National novel writing month

Lesson 6 “Love with Heart & Soul”

According to Rumi “Your task is not to seek love but to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it”

If you want to find true love you need to free yourself from the barriers you have set regarding love. Love is within us no matter where we live or where we come from. By questioning your ideals about love and the cultural perspectives you have been taught around love, you can begin the process of creating a new space to move forward. Our journey is the pursuit to live an authentic love filled life.

Afterall Love is what keeps us alive, our hopeium!

“Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes, because those that love with their heart & soul, there is no such thing as separation.” Rumi

Lesson 5 “The goldmine is within you”

In 13th Century Afghanistan a fascinating poet by the name of Rumi, said something very powerful. “Every mortal will eventually taste death but only some of them will taste life”

This is so true because every single day the question we should be asking ourselves is “Are we living life?” Why are you looking to the world to provide for you when the goldmine is within you. It’s our inner bonding that matters. Words are pretext. It is the inner bonding of gifts, abilities, resonance from subconscious to consciousness, that draws some person to another, not words.

It’s time to grasp this life lesson with both hands. It’s time to get in touch with the voice within your heart and soul. How it speaks, the difference between it and the worldly voices we are forced to listen to each day, the wisdom that waits and the encouragement lying in wonder. We can do this by closing our eyes and listening to our surroundings, music, and to nature. We can also let go and do a dance in rhythm to what we hear, probably for extroverts only. Putting ourselves in this state of self-love, calmness and ease, will help us develop our goldmines.

So the next time your bored don’t be afraid to be alone, be silent, it’s an opportunity to listen to your inner voice, thoughts and emotions and to discover the goldmine within you. The world within us is vast and the roads to access it are multiple. When you fill your inner world you might just find yourself doing the whirling dervish dance, while raising your vibrations!

Lesson 4 Hurt is a blessing

We have all been hurt, we are a species that have been traumatized from the moment of our birth. Once born you do not leave this planet without a few bumps, bruises or limbs missing. This is the reality of our shared experiences. Through our free will, we have the opportunity to experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Our mission is to bring everything into a balance state while being grounded enough to fully function mentally, physically and spiritually.

Rumi states ” the wound is the place the light enters you. what hurts you blesses you. Darkness is your candle.”

What a profound statement that requires us to take a deep breath, a step backwards and an open heart to address. We have three choices, we can react to our pains, we can respond to our hurts or we can ignore and bury them within us, knowing it will jump forward in the future demanding us to deal with it again. I have done all three in my life and I’ve learned the hard way that responding and surrendering or letting it go is the better path for creating a better future.

Happy woman’s Day!

To all of my tribe. Today is the day to connect to the divine feminine inside of all of you!

Take time for self care and wellbeing.

The theme for this year is inspire inclusion.

Wear purple, green and white today to signal justice & unity, green for hope and white for purity.

Be happy, find joy and give yourself a hug as you teeter on the edge of finding your soverignity & authenticity.

Namaste, Jacqueline

Deep Dark Truths

When I came to Northern Ontario 3 years ago, I felt it was spirt directing me to this land and it’s people. A sort of call to arms, to prepare and rally support against this war on consciousness. I was not wrong but I had no idea of the complexity and grandeur this spiritual direction would reveal. This plan was a call alright that began with my own healing journey. As a leader and role model teetering on the edge was created for my own documentation but also as a window for others to look into and be mirrored back into their own lives. Each year I grow and share and each year my blog grows. Scientifically I am affecting change. Spirit set me on a path of self-reflection, self-love, and self-healing. Moving me was the easy part, although I gave up a lot personally, it was my first baby step. With the intention of healing myself, I also intended to connect to others, be in service and together we can heal and change the world.

My first deep dark truth is that you cannot change others no matter how much you try. No matter how much we want to protect them and show them the way to healing, your beliefs, attitudes, experiences or desires are just that, YOURS. I believe it is not our role to save each other, it is our role to save ourselves. This sounds cruel but it’s psychologically sound scientifically. This theory is used in Airplane travel, where they teach you to put the oxygen mask on yourself first before helping others. When you heal yourself you become a role model or template for others to do the same. As humans we have not tapped into our potential as spiritual beings. Our fundamental dynamic capacity to effect positive or negative influence on everyone or everything around us, can be seen psychologically through our use or misuse of words, thoughts, and actions. These are what I like to call the three pillars of healing. The studies done with plants and how talking negatively to them, kills them within weeks, should show us how much our words effect those we are in relationship with. How much greater are we humans than plants? Our thoughts can create or destroy, try changing them to get a better result and let me know what happens. The third pillar our actions is where we should be concentrating. Are you re-acting to something or are you responding to it. There is a difference. Reacting is fast, emotional and impulsive and can have negative consequences. Responding is considering the situation with thought and intelligence. It requires a moment of pause and thought and leads to more positive outcomes. Any incongruency between these three pillars will build dis-ease, dis-order or dysfunction. So if you are walking around in your EGO self, where everyone should think like you, be like you and believe what you believe, you are missing a big opportunity for growth and healing. What the world needs now are opportunities where we learn to live with opposition, in acceptance without judgement of others. We are all connected but we must allow others to learn their own lessons and have their own experiences freely. I know this because I was that person.

My world was built around all the lack of control I felt as a child, young adult and as a woman. It was through wrong intentions, negative self-beliefs and living in a constant state of giving my power away to others, when my self-destruction started. By the time I was 37 I had been married and divorced a few times and it was then I looked myself in the mirror and said “what the fuck was I doing?” I guess certain family members, some friends and peers did not have my best interest because, after all, I was making them look good! I guess their EGO’s had a way of interfering in their ability to help me. I knew I was better than this and that I deserved better for myself and my children. I remember the day a friend at work said to me “change comes from looking at ourselves and deciding what we really want, then ask the question “Why” and when you begin to start answering it, so begins your journey of self healing” This advice changed my life. The second deep dark truth was that they didn’t say I needed someone to walk me through it, they left the responsibility in my hands, where it should be. Afterall this was my life, my creation and if I didn’t like what was happening to me then I needed to change it, even if it started with changing one thing.

I bought a book on emotional alchemy and anger and I began with my childhood and all the things I didn’t like. All the hurt feelings, pain and fears and I asked myself why I felt this way. I then moved up through my life and repeated the process. Journaling became a ritual of release and reading self-help, spiritual books gave me the encouragement I needed. Writing poetry became my second release. Writing poetry was my way of acknowledging my emotions, allowing them to move through me and releasing them to the idea of forgiveness. So it was with spirits help, that I learned that self- forgiveness was the key to really letting go.

My third deep dark truth is that forgiveness is not about others, it is about you and giving yourself permission to move forward making changes that reflect your highest good. Our actions should evolve around our highest intentions so that the consequences do not hinder us but benefit us. I will spare you the details but lets just say that baby steps led to bigger steps, led to ladders of fast tracking myself once I made conscious connections between who I am, my purpose, and who I wanted to be. This did not happen over night. This is a continuous journey where I can now look back and feel proud of the decisions I made, the choices, the ways I responded to others, and the actions I took that benefitted me greatly.

The fourth deep dark truth is, we live in a very chaotic and controlled world that would have you believe we are constantly on the verge of destruction. We are all traumatized by this. I’m here to tell you that if you want that to happen, you don’t have to do anything to make it so. If you don’t want that to happen then its time to question the power you are giving your politicians, bankers, doctors, and educators. They do not have your best interest at stake but they are glad to make all your decisions for you. If all you do is react, complain and blame others well you created that too, by giving away your power. As I sit here in Northern Ontario, revealing deep dark secrets to you, I want you know I perceive a different view. By reflecting on my life and my journey I am hoping to give you the opportunity to see another path. A choice between doing nothing, staying the same, or creating change. A path that proves taking one baby step can lead to a greater opportunity to heal yourself and affect the world around you, as I did. My life and my journey are in a constant state of growth and healing as I teeter on the edge of awakening others so we can create a better world, a healthier population and a healed land that will support all of us. I feel that by sharing little snippets of my story, I can infuse positive spiritual energy that will lead you to your mirror, to question “why”? My hope is that you will awaken to the power that you are a created divine being whose heart call is to heal humanity by taking responsibility for healing yourself first. So begins our journey!

Namaste Tribe, Jacqueline

Lesson 3

DO WHAT YOU LOVE

As you journey forward you will find there is something that moves your heart, something you love or something that you do that others may not. Find it!

“Let yourself be silently drawn

by the strange pull of what you really love.

It will not lead you astray”.

For me it is the many ways I can find that allow my creativity to escape. Inspiration is the key for all creativity. There are as many ways to be inspired as there are stars in the heavens. Whether it is by painting, knitting, photography, journaling, traveling to places or by my favourite, writing poetry, I look for inspiration whatever I am. Today, I decided to take a walk and immerse myself in nature. I am surrounded by a boreal forest on an in-land lake cradled under a picturesque waterfall escaping over a rocky ledge. I know the view alone is inspiring! I find myself taking pictures that sometimes hit Instagram, although they never portray the depth of seeing it with the naked eye. The stillness, so serene, has no voice, you just breath it in and it becomes a part of you. My body now filled walks a little more until I hear the flurry of excitement.

A flock of snowbirds

enters the scene

tiny wings fluttering

as they devour the cedar

the tree explodes in a

blast of energy

as they fly branch to branch

tasting

the cedar tips laden with

recent snow

create a new storm

as snow falls with each

birds fluster

once done they all fly away

joined at the hip

in community

off to another forest friend

exposing the scene back to me

the stillness of a tree

nestled on the edge

of an in-land lake

my mind blanketed by the experience

inspired me to write

What is it that you love to do? What brings you Joy? Today I challenge you to move towards that which is meaningful to you and there you will find your uniqueness and your joy!

Namaste Tribe, Jacqueline

Lesson 2-CHANGE YOURSELF TO CHANGE THE WORLD

When you let go of who you are, you become who you might be. Deep, very deep! I took a moment in time many years ago as a young adult and asked “Who am I?” When I looked within I saw everyone else except myself. I was the creation of all my parents wants & desires, my societies expectations and even as a soldier, my countries enlisted responsibilities and demands. I was a figment of everyone else’s imaginations. That was the beginning of my awakening. Who I was in the 1990’s is not the same person I am today, nor should it be.

In this lesson we are called to not be satisfied with the stories that made us. Who you are now is who you want to become. I’m here to tell you to forget everyone else’s expectations. Live your life where you fear to live. Be notorious, be brave. Once we begin the journey of shadow work we end up in a place where we should be asking ourselves some very big questions. Questions like; who am I, what do I believe, what do I want, where do I belong and where will I be in 5 years? Taking the steps to self orient is a step in the right direction. Who might you be in this age of re-defining oneself? You could possibly be an inventor, a creator, a warrior, a spiritual way shower.

In retrospect I am no different than you. I live and breathe and have my being enjoying my body, my life, sometimes living and learning my lessons the hard way. I have been to the bottom of a bottle and to a mountain’s highest peak but it is in the middle spaces we live. Since a child I have always known I am different.  I have always been pulled towards psychology and towards the spiritual realm. These were my first two loves. My being has always had a mission and that is to uplift humanity.

The intension of my poetry is to open you up to the spiritual possibilities, heal the land, the separation between us and remind you of the sovereign being that you are.

Here’s hoping I accomplish this great task!

Namaste Tribe, Jacqueline

Life of a Poet Series – RUMI

Lesson 1 – LET GO OF JUDGMENT

BOOM, lets get right to the heart of all that hinders us.

According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, judgement is described as “a process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning or comparing; a formal utterance, a divine sentence or a proposition stating something believed or asserted”. I underlined discerning because I believe this is a skill one develops over time through our experiences, for our protection, and should be used as such. What RUMI is talking about is judging and deciding what you think others do or should do needs to stop. You don’t need others approval on how to live your life nor should you care about theirs. What others think of you is NOT your concern.

Rumi states: “Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there; when the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about”.

As an independent, free thinker growing up in a society that demands conformity, this is a hard lesson for me. As I began to be labelled as a rebel, feminist or dare I say conspiracy theorist, I saw a void of separation begin to develop within my family, friends and acquaintances. I however did not bow down and confine myself through others eyes. I began the process of “Shadow work” and looked for ways to still love and care for others while maintaining my own truth & authenticity. Letting go of judgement means finding those fields of green where we can meet others, as we each journey through this life. As we teeter on the future we all want to create, Rumi’s work, created 700 years ago is still relevant today. Now more than any time in history we need to create those precious spaces of compassion, love, tolerance and charity within each of our lives. Letting go of judgement requires us to do some shadow work, which means looking within and asking ourselves, “What is it within me that hinders me from letting go of judgement? and then releasing old discriminations, past negative experiences, feelings of lack of control, self esteem issues or imbedded systemic class beliefs. Whatever you find is yours to release. Then ask yourself, “Can I meet others in a grassy knoll and lie down my barriers to begin the process of opening our hearts to receive more love, joy and peace?

It’s time to shine your light

Namaste Tribe, Jacqueline

The Life of a Poet

Today begins a seven part series concentrating on the 7 life lessons from RUMI and how I am applying them to my life.

For those of you who don’t know, RUMI was a Persian poet, Islamic scholar and Sufi Mystic. Born in Afganistan on September 30, 1207 and died in Turkiye December 17, 1273. Rumi was on of the great spiritual masters and poetic geniuses of mankind. His works discuss the concept of God and the definition of love. According to Rumi’s philosophy, life should be a journey to union with the one true God.

Rumi’s most famous poems include “On the turn”, “When I die”, and “The gifts of the beloved”. According to the New Yorker article “The erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi” Jan. 5 2017 by Rozina Ali, “Rumi is the best selling poet in the United States. Although a lifelong scholar of Islam Rumi was less frequently described as a Muslim. Whether it is a newer rendition on Rumi’s poetry or an exact translation by a Muslim cleric, Rumi understood there is a space between right-doing (religion) and wrong-doing (infidelity) where he meets us”. A space of compassion and love that Rumi put forward more than seven hundred years ago that is still a teachable moment for us today.

Rumi saw us all as one and his doctrine of peace and love advocates tolerance, reasoning, and charity with the same eye as Muslims, Jews, Christians and others. Love is what keeps us alive.

“Your task is not to seek for love,

but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself

that you have built against it”

Rumi

Self empowerment and spiritual development are timeless. Our ascension lies in moving beyond the boundaries of a mere human to much higher aspirations of who we want to become. Rumi’s 7 life lessons are a pathway. It is only with each step we take, that our lives will unveil our potential.

Join me each Sunday as I present each lesson and share how I am following this path to open my heart so I can receive more love and compassion this year.

It’s time to shine your light Tribe,

Jacqueline