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Category Archives: Soul Freedom
(More) on perceptual filters
We are wired to gauge the “rightness” of something by how good it makes us feel. This is not always what we should use to measure the rightness of an action or path. Please understand, I am not saying we should ignore feelings that indicate something is wrong. We should not do that.
However, we might be taking the right action at the right time and it doesn’t necessarily feel good. Feeling good is a perceptual filter. If we use our wisdom (our own wisdom) we might benefit from some investigation about the value of an action or experience if we look beyond the feeling state it engenders. The feeling state might be an old habit. The action or experience might be something beyond the known. And perfect for us right now.
The “woman” filter: Use it, don’t be used by it
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This isn’t a post about whether gender is a matter of conditioning. Or whether it exists at all. This is a post about the old-fashioned issue of our societal conditioning as women. And how that conditioning, like all conditioning, becomes a perceptual filter.
Yes, it becomes psychology and behavior and culture too. But at it’s root, it is a series of beliefs, which create a perceptual filter. And that filter lives and breathes in each individual.
I find it useful to be aware of the filter, how it operates in my psyche and, in turn, my life. But I am cautious: it is double-edged and I know it. It acts subtly to increase my sense of separation and, ironically, instead of freeing my mind, intensifies the feeling of being a victim, of being less-than.
When I am perceiving and maybe acting out of society’s ideas or mandates about how to be a “good female,” it helps me to be aware of those tensions, so I can make different choices. But I focus on the other ingredients mixing around in the mindset. Things like: “I am woman, I am this, you treat me like that, you are that, you have always treated me like this, look what you did, it will always be this way.” No. I do not welcome that. That is a prison. I let it go.
Use the filter. Do not be used by it.
Point peace at it
When a stressful thoughts arises, point peace at it.
Thought Directs Energy
Someone posted a recording of a Byron Katie workshop – circa 1993 – on YouTube. Katie talked about living on the street. I do not know how long or under what circumstances she did this. She talked about a night when the weather was bitterly cold. Despite the weather and her circumstances, she was inside a building, warm, sipping a hot drink. She watched a man – also living on the street – sleep outside in the bitter cold.
The only difference between them was their beliefs. She did not let the limiting belief of “I am a homeless person and therefore undeserving with no options” stop her from finding a warm place to hang out. The man slept outside in the bitter cold.
This example is powerful because it illuminates the principle of how our thoughts can direct our energy (and life) in such a bare, alarming way. She had nothing more than the man in the cold except the ability to live beyond belief.
May we all develop that ability. May we all live beyond belief.
Mission Statements
I am working on a mission statement for my business. After trying to make its different aspects (some are still in development) fit into one statement, I decided I would need two, maybe three mission statements. One for each part of the business.
The class I teach: gives creatives tools for more empowerment..
The one-to-one facilitation: I hold the space for you to create art despite resistance.
Books: I give children a sense of hope and joy about their world..
If I boiled down the details to their essence, I would say:
Your soul is already free.
and…
Life only happens NOW.
Inner Tools™ Blog: Times of Intense Rapid Shifts 