From my Bookshelf...

I'm walking around the shop looking for a book to read. For a couple of weeks I resisted picking up "Awakening into Oneness" - this time I decide to give it a go. My reluctance comes from the challenge I had when trying to read the authors previous work - Translucent Revolution-

So, judgement aside I start reading ... first paragraph of the forward - the writing style is familiar .. flicking over the pages I see Ervin Laszlo is the writer! all of a sudden the book takes on a new meaning. I am a huge fan of Ervin Laszlo's work... so anything he supports has my attention.

Awakening into Oneness tells the story of how a blessing known as Deeksha is sweeping the world. My way of describing the blessing - a very powerful transfer of energy resulting in a transformation of consciousness.

As I'm reading I feel a huge sense of peace... it all just made sense. So many of the experiences being described supported other material I have read or listened to.

Each time I picked up the book, I felt a compelling sense to sit in meditation. On the times that I followed my instinct the meditation was deep and my mind literally stopped!

Recently the local holistic magazines(Nova and Living Now) have run advertisements for the Oneness Blessing, as it is known in the West, so I decided to see what I could find on the Internet. A number of sites came up my search..
The Oneness Centre Australia seems the best place to start.

The Rights of The Reader

How politically incorrect would it be for me to start my first ever post as a blogger with some sort of controversy? How daring do I feel right now? Should I, dare I? Oh what the heck! If we all had the same opinion on everything, things would rapidly become unbelievably boring, and soon some of us would be redundant… As a friend of mine puts it: “What’s Life without Risk?” (To which another friend always replies: “What’s Risk without Life…”)

So here goes… (drum roll please – I like a bit of drama when I’m about to make a hugely revealing disclosure about myself…)

I have tried several times (5 times to be precise) to read The Power Of Now, in vain. I tried, God knows I tried, to read it; and to like it, but woe is me, I failed miserably.

So here it is, for all to see – my dismal failure at reading a book that changes lives. Not only does it changes lives, but it is apparently so inspiring that people completely turned their life around on account of this book. This, my friends, is one powerful book. Alas, what would I know about it, because I haven’t read it!

For a long time, I tried to hide this shortcoming in me. People would come in to the bookstore and ask my opinion on the book. What was I to tell them? That it was good or that it wasn’t? That I didn’t have time to read it or that I just couldn’t stay awake long enough to get through it?

And what would this awful flaw say about me? That I lack depth and intelligence? That my grasp of the English language is less than adequate? That my future is doomed, all because I haven’t been able to harness The Power of Now?

I reflected quite a bit about my inability to read this book. And this brought me back to Daniel Pennac, who in his essay “Comme un Roman” (Like A Novel) talks about “The 10 Inalienable Rights of the Reader”. These Rights have eased the guilt that countless readers have acquired by long-standing beliefs about books and the act of reading… According to Pennac, we have:

1. The right to not read
2. The right to skip pages
3. The right to not finish a book
4. The right to re-read
5. The right to read anything
6. The right to "Bovary-ism," a textually-transmitted disease
7. The right to read anywhere
8. The right to glean ("grappiller")
9. The right to read out-loud, and
10. The right to be silent

Once one is acquainted with these rights, Freedom and Inner Peace cannot fail to follow. Imagine, being let off the hook the moment you decide that somehow you do not connect with a book you’re reading and you have PERMISSION to stop reading! Not only that, but you also have permission to read the last page first, and permission to skip pages or a whole chapter even…

For me, it means that I no longer feel inadequate when I find myself finishing a paragraph and wondering what the hell I just read. I no longer feel the need to condemn a book I haven’t finished by saying it’s bad or boring – I just acknowledge that I didn’t connect with it, that maybe, somehow, I am not meant to read it, or that the timing isn’t right, and I trust that the right book will come my way. And it does…

So there you go, I said it: I didn’t read The Power of Now… But I’ve stopped beating myself up for it!

How I found Meditation

I am so excited to be able to contribute to The Phoenix Rising Blog Site. I thank Sue for all her love and opportunities and for anyone that will read my perspective on this life. Let me know what you think.

I work part time at Phoenix Rising Books as well as run a Meditation group on a Wednesday evening and teach Reiki on Thursday evenings at the shop. I moved to Sydney from Melbourne about two years ago and after a shaky start, I found Phoenix Rising Books and Sue, who has given me the opportunity to be who I am.

My interests lie in the transformation of all people, animals and the earth. This assists us as we move through this life, helping us all to find the love and beauty in all situations, places and people. There is no right or wrong way, only a willingness to look within yourself, to find your hidden, sometimes buried treasure. When your treasure chest is opened as you open your heart, your essence, beauty, creativity and love will become part of you. As you discover the beauty of being who you are, you will also realise all your wisdom and answers lie here also.

Some Books that have inspired me:
The Spiral Dance: A rebirth of the Ancient Religion - By Starhawk
The Kryon series of 10 books - By Lee Carroll
Radical Forgiveness: Making Room For The Miracle - By Colin C Tipping
The Power of Now - By Eckhart Tolle
Alchemy of Nine Dimensions - By Barbara Hand Clow and Gerry Clow
The Pleiadian Agenda - By Barbara Hand Clow
Pleiadian Workbook - By Amorah Quan Yin
Wherever You Go, There You are - By Jon Kabat-Zinn
Creative Visualisation - By Shakti Gawain

Meditation helps us to become responsible for the thoughts that flow in and from our minds. We always have the ability to change, transform and heal any words and thoughts that may flow from our mind, our inner dialogue. We have made our minds so powerful with the illusions we feed ourselves everyday. Messages come through on all physical levels reminding us that we are not good enough and we need new clothes, make up, cosmetics, a different job, a better car, a bigger house a more caring partner, that earns lots of money and is successful.

Do any of these things really matter? Are they going to make you happy? For years I looked outside of myself for happiness, thinking that once I had every thing I thought, would make me happy, maybe I could accept myself, everything would be great and I could finally be happy. I had allowed my head to do a number on me, as I fed into the illusion of fear that this society perpetuates on all levels. What I put out there came back to me. Be mindful of your thoughts and actions; remember you reap what you sow.

I thought if I did the right thing (what ever that is) as far as my parents, friends and society were concerned, I would be safe and good things would happen. Instead I became more and more disillusioned, unhappy, constantly looking for the next thing, person or information that would make me happy all to no avail.

All this time, unknown to me, I had been placing more and more layers around my self, able only to hear the constant negative talk in my head and not positive love talk from my heart. My inner dialogue had become unbalanced, as I could only hear one side, I had disconnected from my feelings and become cynical, logical, able to justify anything through my mind, all the time becoming more and more emotional, experiencing extreme highs and lows, depression and suicidal thoughts.

As I worked through a very dark period in my life, bit by bit I let go of the old and my life changed on all levels, I left a marriage, changed my work and lived by myself for the first time. My biggest fear in my life was being by myself. Your biggest fear will always come your way to help you to realise there is nothing to be fearful of. The Universe will only send you what you are capable of, to help you find your strength and become more of who you are.

One day after I had moved in to my own place, I went to the local shops and a shop I had never noticed before jumped out in front of me. I have no idea how long this shop had been here, but all of a sudden I could see it.

I was drawn to this shop, not really knowing why I wanted to go in. The name of this curious place was The Blue Angel Gallery.

When I entered I felt happiness and love, (like I had somehow, come home) but also fear, fear of what I may find out about myself.

This was to be the place where I started meditation and where I would eventually work. Life has a way of surprising you and this was one of those times. Finally I stop looking outside of myself and embarked on the biggest journey of all, the one that took me into my inner realms, I realised I had nothing left to lose as the foundations I had based my life on had crumbled away and I had no idea who I was, why I was here and what the hell I was meant to be doing.

That happened in 1998 and the shop no longer exists in Mt Waverley, but it will always exist within my heart. It is always with me, I carry it wherever I go, reminding me a place doesn’t make you spiritual. The spiritual part of ourselves, resides within and it is our responsibility to find it.

Through Martine and Toni, I had the opportunity to work with Tammy at Heart and Soul Centre. Martine was my teacher and to break out on your own can be a difficult thing. Tammy had an amazing vision that she manifested into Heart and Soul, she fully supported me on my journey of self-discovery and I will always be truly grateful for the opportunity for me to step into my own power. A wonderful place, training beautiful lightworkers, to find their own truth and step into their own power.

Now, I have moved to Sydney to be with an amazing man and I look forward to the next chapter, as we travel this life together. All things happen for a reason. Even more amazing, I found Phoenix Rising Books, where the wisdom of Sue and the talents of Judith, Lorraine and Sarah fully support me with love as I move forward, once again I am so grateful for this life.
The Adventure continues...

Entering the Web 2.0 world with "PRESENCE"

Welcome into the Phoenix web 2.0 world.... Phoenix is rising from the ashes into this new form and shape.

The scary element for me is 'being' with the uncertainty ... being okay with not knowing what the form will be like. And to quote one of my favourite teachers - Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now... all form dissolves and all we are left with is presence.

Has the writing and audio workshops of Eckhart Tolle crossed your path? I read The Power of Now for the first time in 1999 and it had a profound effect on me. My way of seeing the world changed! The idea of the past being a dream and the future a fantasy stuck with me. Same with the words... " you can only arrive in the future through the now" ...
Since 1999 I have recommended The Power of Now to hundred's of people, all ages, all nationalities and both sexes. many have come back to me and said that reading it had changed their lives.....
Read it.... and then tell me how it has made an impact on your life?