“It’s you I like”

How powerful it is to experience pure goodness and love

The lie we buy as humans

Dipping down deep into the Fuckeat-archetype* today, of violence and attack.

I asked Jesus to take care of my dreams this night, and he presented me for an old repeating dream pattern where I want my daughter to do something NOW and when she doesn’t immediately comply, I become an insanely wrathful monster who controls her completely – or rather, tries to control. The rage comes from an underlying deep feeling of powerlessness and worthlessness.

Awake, I ask to be taken back to a situation in this life where I was on the receiving end of this. It is clear; I am sitting with my father at his own masterpiece as carpenter – a beautiful mahogany desk. He is trying to help me understand something in homework for school, I don’t know how old I am – but his anger scares me so much that I truly think he may kill me if I don’t understand.

I can see the levels in this creation:

Father/parent: it is required of me that I make you understand and learn. If I don’t succeed, you will fail and that will be my responsibility – this is an expression of Love, this is how I have been taught that Love is: full of demands and threats. “I punish you for your own good.”

I realize from where I am now how me being “stupid” was a blemish on the perfect and idyllic façade of the family – no signs of suffering allowed, except maybe physical pains

This thought is clearly based on our innermost and first collective misunderstanding: that we don’t have a loving Self/connection to God, we are separated and on our own. Love is something that must be had from outside – and it must be deserved, and it must be portioned out, due to how worthy we are of it – meaning the results we get at school and at work.

The attempts of control of this façade – and our performances – take a tremendous toll on our nervous systems and our muscles, which have the job of absorbing it all.

I was not aware that I as angry at all on my daughter, before she wrote it in a letter to me when she was 13 – “I was deadly afraid.” What – of me???

My father probably denied it for himself too.

Now, in the night, sitting and breathing into it in my bed, I sense that I simply now understand that my intense fear of angry men is in reality me being angry at me for not being perfectly conforming to the others demands and expectations

That’s why punishing myself feels safe, and I am recognizing that I am a sucker for it.

Until now

I am allowing myself to see these beliefs and HAVE THESE feelings now – no judgments – what a relief that is. And I also remember the bus driver who lost it, where I found my Christ coming out and smiling at him – and he became instantly transformed.

Just by my willingness to disregard his behavior and look through it to his Self and his innermost innocence – which is our original state of being

Hah – I see that the paranoia in me is just another flavor of these beliefs – I have projected my own hidden hatred and murder lust of myself on the others, who have played out these attack-thought/projections in various degrees of viciousness.

“You are doing it to yourself” as The Course repeats – “there are nobody out there but you.”

Here is my repeated thought and demand that I must NOT do anything “wrong”.

Killer and victim- ONE coin. I place it on the Altar.

Just now sitting with the feeling of being “the stupid one” – allowing myself to calmly breath and relax into it

Nothing of it is built on the Truth of Who we are: One with our Creator.

We can pretend all we like here in our world – and it will never become Truth

So I notice that I now actually look forward to people losing it in front of me – I know they are really acting out this old collective impotent anger – and that it is not mine and that is not his or yours, it is just a thought that our ego-mind has cooked up to keep us trapped in its world of separation and fear.What we believe in, becomes our reality.

 

The Fuckeat-archetype* is described in detail in “When Fear Comes Home to Love:”

“… you will meet Fuckeat as Killer / Destroyer, Vampire (Hungry Ghost), Fucker, Crusher, Despot, Invader. Thank God he is nothing else than our own hidden guilt and self-hatred, which forever awaits our forgiveness. His main defeaters are Play, Creativity, Humor, Love and Forgiveness – as you will see from our stories.”

And then  The Course will speak the last word:

M.VI.7 The more grotesque the dream, the fiercer and more powerful its defenses seem to be. 8 Yet when the teacher of God finally agrees to look past them, he finds that nothing was there. 9 Slowly at first he lets himself be undeceived. 10 But he learns faster as his trust increases. 11 It is not danger that comes when defenses are laid down. 12 It is safety. 13 It is peace. 14 It is joy. 15 And it is God.

 

 

 

 

Trees

This is the view from my livingroom-window: I look right into the tall old Sallow and the Beech -look how they enjoy each others company. And I enjoy theirs! Sometimes it feels like I am really inside the branches.

In my work as Expressive Arts Therapist, I often choose to work with poetry with my students. Something magical happens when we let go of the limitations of our habitual “me” and open up to just “let it write.” In my book, “Healing Crisis – 108 Ways to Turn Crises into Possibilities” I describe many ways to elicit the voice of your inner poet –  it really exists in there! I will never forget the first time my teacher showed us how to find it – and the poem that came out of that – never been so surprised:)

But now, I want to share my last poem about a tree – this is an experience I had a week ago.

 

Fall-ing

First frost today

and my red shoe

gently steps onto

the paper thin sheet of ice

on a black puddle, enjoying the delicate creaks

Crisp air with a hint of fir smoke

fills my nostrils, and I become aware that

I am filled with holes from Spring and Summer

 

Waiting for the bus,

I rest my eyes upon the lead gray sky

when the sun breaks through, and

the Elm in utter surrender shatters

her yellow gold like a waterfall:

Illuminated,

leaves spin and spiral, whirl and twirl

Some spin fast

like they are trying to recall their inner

dance before

they congealed into leaf

Some simply and quietly sink ,

blissing all the way down

And as I notice that each leaf I watch

sinks to earth

in its individual way of dancing,

I sense that all my holes

come together

to one vast

space

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connection

Watching a contest yesterday, close to the Finale now, I found myself thinking about the one I wanted to win. I noticed there was a lot of stress about it – what if this person did not win? That would feel bad…and then an angel flew through my room and suddenly I knew that I choose to choose the one who wins 🙂

The feeling I get is indescribable: no longer fighting reality, wanting something else than what happens every moment.

Most of the night was filled with this ease.

In the morning, strong cramps came in my right leg. In the seconds before I succeeded in placing it on the floor, supporting it, I said “ “Could I just witness this WITH you, Blue?” and after that, the pain was so shockingly violent that I immediately told myself, “no” – I could not stand this a nanosecond –

But something inside me knew that I had already chosen to share it with the Divine – and in that second, it completely vanished, as if it never had been there at all.

In the morning, absolutely everything was wrong with my cell-phone – which is a kind of symbol of my mind. It gave me message after message about everything that did not work – and then the PC did the same: it insisted that there was no Internet connection at the same time where I actually was connected.

I tried to connect to Sony-foras and Sony-telephone support, and they all told me that what I reported was very strange indeed. Whatever they suggested only led to more chaos.

So I sat down and wrote this instead. I believe that ego has a ball with me being sucked into this virtual chaos-dramas – they surely seem real and ANNOYING

I realize how I have somehow given my cellphone the job of keeping me connected – instead of realizing that any break in connections are thoughts in the mind, being reflected back to me. There is really only ONE vital connection for me to make, at all time – and to value the most: the connection to my Self, the Christ

And there’s the sun, shining in my face

Blue is Playing

From “When Fear Comes Home to Love”

I am sitting in a Skype-session with Marian. There is a strong identification with fear / cold in the body: I think it will kill me if I don’t DO something!

In that very moment, the sky outside my window is filled with hundreds of little birds. They are soundlessly demonstrating the state of being: they are not flying from one place to another – just allowing themselves to be carried by wind and wings. As I notice their state of effortless being, my fear-identification slides off. For the first time in my life (I am sixty-seven) I know that this cold and fear is not truth, and cannot harm me.

Surrender

When you are weary, let go and I will catch you.

When you are frustrated, step back and I will hold you.

When you hurt, fall inwards and I will heal you

When you feel alone, listen, and I will speak to you.

When you cannot see the way, trust, and I will lead you.

When you let go, Grace draws you back to the Real.

There is nowhere for you to dwell but in My embrace

.Here you are happy.

Here you are Home

Transition

My sister-in-law was buried yesterday. The service in the church was overwhelmingly filled with love and beauty. The poem came to me when I had returned home

Phone call from No Where but Here

I did not disappear –

I am here and everywhere

In here there is

no loss or fear

There is no misery in here

You only miss what you thought I were

I am right near

my dearest dear

 

I am home

In the dome

Of your heart

*

 

Being “interesting”

In the West, we are obsessed with individuality – our “me” and how special we are. The Course points this out to us again and again – how much we think our “specialness” is Who we are, and how terrified we are of losing it. In the East,they are – still – so much more oriented toward community.

Interesting. Westerners place big value on being interesting. Something that defines me apart from the rest – and that this definition by others is what I live for.

I sense the shame and helplessness underlying this belief – that I have to be interesting? There is truly no insight here that my value is given: I AM as God created me.

The truly great artists disappear in what they do and create, allowing it to express through them – and do not claim it as solely theirs. Still – the way they paint/play/compose couldn’t have been expressed exactly like THAT by anybody else – and here is the place where what the Course calls “specialness” may enter: the insidious belief that the separate you-personality is the creator, instead of the “receiver” and the “expressor” – attentively listening to What wants to come through you – and the strange belief that what you create,  should be compared in value to what another creates.

“I cant’ find the words…I don’t know what to say… I am boring ” – can you sense the shame underlying this, the performance pressure – and underlying all of it, is a false thought that we collectively have bought into:

“Stillness/non-doing is  boring.And dangerous.”

Of course I believe it is dangerous: the ego wants me securely planted in the belief that ONLY when I am “interesting” and perform in ways it/the collective/ applauds – which frequently has to do with fame and glory – can I relax and accept myself.And as long as I, identifying with the ego-thought system, am convinced that my value rests on performance and others’ judgments.

Lately, when I have found  myself in Stillness  much more often, the sense of restlessness – that I need to DO SOMETHING has been completely overwhelming.

Now I realize with a big breath that this irritated fear energy just comes from this basic premise and false thought: Stillness is dangerous. Only when you create art for others can you be allowed to be one of us.

Love is the state of consciousness that accepts and embraces it all. There is no judgment in divine love – while the very interesting-specter is built upon evaluation and judgment.

As Spirit, made in God’s Image, we chose which thoughts we believe in and therefore make our reality from.

The old collective thought “ I have to be special/outstanding/interesting/ in order to feel valuable and receive love” I now declare as false –

I remember the huge aura of Stillness around Eckhart Tolle on the retreat I recently attended – and how much old stuff it brought up in all of us, being saturated in that field. No wonder there is great fear in the ego mind about re-entering our true origin – but is a false alarm:)

Here is my new choice:)

I choose to rest in Silence.Right here. Right now

All comes from this origin. It is Home.

Reminding myself as soon as I recognize one of the many insidious thoughts that I am not as God has created me – and choosing again, until I truly know who I am

Ha:) Recognizing that I wrote my post before this from Silence

*

Poem for today:

Lalala

Phineas von Foggerty and Agonus von Due
are two little fellas who live within you
When Phineas is laughing and stroking your hair
is Agonus just busy and cooking up fear

He simmers it slowly and sweetly, that liar
my god and my god look your hair is on fire
It hurts and it HURTS but van Foggerty’s present
he gives you a hug and a star and a pheasant

But Agonus von Due goes ballistic with spite
and your hair is now burning as bright as a fight
made in hell, and you scream and you fall to the floor
and Agonus is yelling and hollering “MORE!”

And then in a POOF he is caught by a spark
of red fire, explodes and ascends like a lark
Well, not like a lark, like a fire bird brightly
He lightens up hell with a pyre so mightly

that all one can see is sky filled with suns
and Phineas says, now let’s have us some funs
honey, let us tell stories of beach balls and fairies
and firework crackers with Peters and Marys

and polkas and Pelicans, lovebirds and larks
-look, there’s a sparkrain of fire and sharks!
VonDue is exploding in all kinds of spectacles
he’s screaming in rage and in all kind of dachtylos

-now step to the right, and just watch the big show
we have the best seats in the orchestra row!
Oh there goes poor Agonus, or what is just left of him!

…you shiver and pity the schmuck, or the rest of him

“ Oh maybe I’ll be bored with just nothing but peace-“
But OH, there is Agonus von Due back, all cheese
and this time he certainly comes as Fondue
there is nothing to do but to eat him – yahoo!

Moral:
Eat your Fondue with red Wine and some cherries
Spice it with giggles and shrugs and no worries

*

Blue is playing

For new readers: BLUE is my guide in my book “When Fear Comes Home to Love.” Here is an excerpt from the Introduction, describing the process of painting the Tree on the Cover – the Image that gave rise to the book and the exploration of archetypes.

During my education in Expressive Arts Therapy in Switzerland, our class gathered in Gwatt by Thunersee a couple of weeks in May to explore our birth families through painting, sculpting and storytelling, under the magic leadership of Mariagnese Cattaneo. Each of us was to visualize our family as a tree, and then paint the tree (see the Image / the cover). Afterward we made a story from the painting and shared it with a partner. The day after, we expanded the work further – making rapid sculptures of our family members from all kind of materials. I choose clay and painted tissue-paper.

As I closed my eyes during the visualization of my family tree, a tremendous energy soared through me. A door to a blocked and hidden room inside me opened – now the freed energy rushed forth to greet me. “Pay attention! This is important!” was the clear message within the experience. A melting sense of gratitude and release opened my heart and soul – something within whispered “at last” and relaxed deeply.

The image of The Tree presented itself with great force and detail. I painted as if in a trance, with lightning speed, serving the Image as well as I could – not censoring any of the strange mythical figures. The Image commanded faithfulness from me, and my feeling of curiosity and wonder grew as I allowed it to come through me.

After having written the story coming from The Image, and having shared it with my classmate Aaron, The Image and Story would not let me rest. I decided to create a healing ritual from The Story. I did this with Aaron as co-player and witness. The insights were startling.

I sensed I was being shown something that must not be interfered with intellectually, not analyzed or controlled in any way. Once again, Aaron and I took my sculpted family out into the friendly Swiss wood, just outside our painting studio, to unravel them and explore their mystery and gifts of healing. The ritual exploration was done within a circular sacred space we created, and showed us with uncanny clarity the split within my family’s psyche. One the one side, there was blind need and terror, caused by trance-like sexual abuse. It was accompanied by the denial of the acts and all the pain they caused, which created the adapting, conforming survivors. The family had successfully dissociated from this. And then we all had dissociated from our Self and the light within – our true I Am. This was the beginning of the process that connected me to my forgotten personal story or myth – which later turned out to be a blueprint of the collective Myth, described in “The Jekyll and Hyde-family.”

*

And since I like to mix the silly with the  more “serious” – here is my latest poem:

Life on the outbreath

I paint my nails

With a lovely boat

With sky-blue sails

While I take my stout.

 

For a furry hat

And a shocking shirt

I take my cat

And my boa Curt

 

I’m eightyfour

And I do as I like

I leave with a roar

And return with a Mike

 

Velcro

7 October 2015 Velcro

When Peter and Mary visits, and Peter starts his thunder speech against Christians/bad parents whatever, I sit there silently simmering, because the energy of it feels terrible and I can’t stop it.

But The Course tells me that he is such a great mirror for me – so now, one day later, I choose to deal with it ( in this second, a shimmering colorful butterfly flies past my window, not minding that it is October.) So- what do I hate and condemn?

Giggle – I hate and condemn his hating and condemning

When I resist what somebody says, I make energetic hooks where the others’ energy gets stuck- like Velcro. When I change my part of the dynamic, the other will too.

Pema Chödrön, in her book Fail, fail again, fail better says “The Tibetans say the quality no longer have your nose ring ( because they used to put a ring in the nose of the yaks, and then they could pull the yak wherever they wanted.”)

I’d like to use the word Velcro – the two sides of the tape that hook into each other. Both sides/dynamics are needed for the tape to hold together – and when I drop mine, it’s like when you try to have the “feminine” side of the tape – the soft, sleek one – adhere to itself, it can’t be done – just like the hook-side/the masculine/ can’t hook onto itself either – it must have an “opposite” to hook into.”

Hah! I like that analogue

And Peter and I have a super strong Velcro between us. My (silent) resistance and damnation fuels him, feeds him: what you resist, persists.*

But Peter is gold and I love him – I truly know his pattern is a gift to me. And when they have left (we had a lot of laughs too) I can tend to how I feel.

I sink into the heart, breathe, and wait. Ah. Judging and hating anything only drives it deeper into darkness.

Surrendering the idea that small-me/ego shall fix this – “doing”

Doing by non-doing, says the Heart – just breathe and let it be, admit to your feelings of rage and impotence and let it be – releasing any idea of intervention

It reminds me of what my soul sister Ley does: she reminds herself that (ac.to the Course) whatever she listens to by whomever, already has happened -it is already forgiven and released –and in this mode, she can listen to whatever for whatever time, which creates the healing space for the situation to un-velcro itself – no resistance ♥

Oh oh oh in this moment a little greenfinch lands right on the windowsill just 50 cm away from me, it feels like a caress – and something in the brain lets go – all encompassing beautiful gentle release – it feels like wakening from a terrible and very long dream

 

*

 What you resist, persists / Dialogue with Blue 1997/From When Fear Comes Home to Love

This is the second dialogue I had with Blue. He is addressing me where I was at that time: completely victim-identified.

Dear Blue – please explain the expression “what you resist, persists.” Are you really saying that we should not resist an attack – a rape, for instance – should we just give up all resistance and just lie down and be taken?

Let me explain. When you resist certain feelings, they will repeat themselves. When you resist being with certain people, they will pop up to meet you everywhere – because: those people whom you resist, represent certain aspects of your psyche that you still have not learned to accept. You have judged and condemned these traits within, you have disowned them. Your resistance toward these people is manifesting as disgust, anger and hatred – and since LOVE wants all to be loved, She sends you what you resist and hate, so you shall SEE it, accept that it is there, and send love into it.