Insights – Melannie Thomas

Archive for the ‘Dreams’ Category

“The great revolution in the history of man, past, present and future, is the revolution of those determined to be free.”  ~John F. Kennedy

“I value freedom above anything else.  Freedom to do what I want, freedom from not doing what I don’t want to do, and freedom from my reactions and emotions…things that may disturb my peace.”  ~Naval Ravikant

“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed–else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”   ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

I chose these three quotes about freedom as I feel they represent its essence.   This week I invite you to celebrate your inner and outer freedom.

Many Blessings!

Melannie

Virus [L. venom, poisonous emanation].

Viruses come in three forms: 1. a large group of submicroscopic infectious agents that can only grow and multiply in living cells, e.g. covid-19.  2. a corrupting influence that poisons the mind and the spirit, e.g. debasement of ethics and morals.  3. an agent hidden in a computer program that reproduces, inserting itself into it’s host, then maliciously spreading into other programs to destroy data, e.g. malware.

Humanity diligently pursues defenses against malware and submicroscopic organisms, whilst relegating defense against ethical and moral perversions to religion and politics, thereby externalizing an internal process.

All viruses are predominately unseen; not receiving main stream attention until they create a massive disruption in the social fabric.  Two of these viruses are doing just that at this very moment.

Woefully, humanity is unprepared, impotent, paralyzed by fear, seduced by arrogance, and reeling with disbelief, sadness and uncertainty.

Practicing patience, compassion, and authentic self-reflection are the strategies, the behaviors, that guide humanity through turmoil.  It has been done before.

“If peace comes from seeing the whole

then misery stems from a loss of perspective.”

~Mark Nepo

Carl Jung said, “The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble.  They can never be solved but only outgrown.”

This week I invite you into further exploration of your authentic self…the royal road to maturity.

Blessings!

Melannie

The covid-19 plague continues it’s global ravishing. The six month death toll  in our United States surpasses 100,000 and continues rising.

According to the National Archive, Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files (2008), 58,220 Americans died in the Vietnam War from 1954-1975 (https://www.britannica.com).

…and, America’s Civil War in which 660,000 people died continues, ripping the veil off of inhumane atrocities, brutality and blatant cruelty.

As I struggle to take in these realities, a Shakespeare sonnet entered my consciousness

“But man, proud man,

Dress’d in a little brief authority,

Most ignorant of what is most assur’d–

His glassy essence–like an angry ape

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven

As makes the angels weep; who with our spleens,

Would themselves laugh mortal.”

The angels weep as we covertly and overtly destroy ourselves.  The adage that history repeats itself,  feels shockingly stark to me; collectively, humanity learns nothing from thousands of years of experience.

Giving Up What No Longer Works

“Burning your way to center

is the loneliest fire of all.

You’ll know you have arrived

when nothing else will burn.”

~Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening Pg.176.

I invite you to strengthen your spiritual tenacity…the path through chaos.

Blessings!

Melannie

Our  global community is in the throes of ‘radical shift’.  We are all doing our best to cope with the extreme and undesirable circumstances that the covid-19 plague has brought to our doorsteps.

This radical shift aligns philosophically with the spiritual implications of Thomas Khun’s ‘paradigm shift’.  (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, 1962).  To successfully navigate the turbulent rapids of change demands that we align with our authentic selves in transforming beliefs and truths that no longer support our way of being; our security.

The Tower card in the Tarot is a powerful representation of radical shift. The Tower’s message is about sudden, unforeseen change; crisis, danger, destruction and liberation.

The lightning bolt that strikes the strong walls of the Tower, representing the fortified  foundations of our security, is a stark, shocking revelation of our weaknesses. This is radical transformation!  Collectively and individually, we stand solidly in the crossroads, facing decisions about which direction to go; compelled to make choices we never dreamed necessary.

I recently asked a client how he was doing in the midst of this craziness.  He responded that, “The craziness has always been here, the virus has just ripped the mask off that reality.”  Now we are face to face with radical shift.

Depictions of the Tower card show two falling figures representing radically shifting ideas and beliefs about our sense of security.  The Tower is of our own making.   It is incumbent on us to learn the lesson it presents.  Radical transformation stimulates creativity, experiential wisdom and spiritual tenacity.  We are empowered by choosing to live in faith, or dis empowered by choosing to live in fear.

A new cycle has begun.  We are presented with the opportunity to re-define our beliefs about security, equality and freedom; an opportunity to collectively unite with greater awareness regarding how we function day-by-day and the impact business as usual has on planet Earth and the heart of civilization. Our behaviors matter.

The push to return to ‘normal’ is a powerful elixir tempting us back into a false sense of control, a false sense of security. We can never go back.  Like an enormous global earthquake, covid-19 has shaken our foundations.  How we choose to respond, to re-build, will shape the essence of our future.

The way through this crisis on a personal level is through faith.  No matter what your belief system, now is the time to profoundly plug-in; to let the light of greater awareness into consciousness, guiding us away from fear and helplessness into personal empowerment and inner peace during this time of peril and upheaval.

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.”  ~William James

Stay safe and be well!

Many blessings and much love!

Melannie

“Both the Winter and the Summer Solstices are expressions of love.  They show us the opposition of light and dark, expansion and contraction, that characterize our experiences in the Earth school so that we can recognize our options as we move through our lives.”  ~Gary Zukav

Wishing you all a magical and wondrous Holy Season!

Blessings!

The weekly blog will be temporarily unavailable for eight weeks or so.  I have had fusion surgery on my right ankle and the first six to eight weeks of recovery means I will be one-legged.  At 77 years old, this has required a lot of planning to accommodate my circumstances.  I have a lot of help and support for which I am very grateful!

I plan to be back blogging at the beginning of the new year.  Wishing you all a very blessed Thanksgiving, Solstice, and Christmas!!

Much love and many blessings to you all!!

Thank you all for the prayers, meditations, rituals and good wishes!!

Twice in two years fire has come within a mile and a half.  Miraculously, twice in two years my home has been spared.

It was palpably obvious that Fire, First Responders, Police, and Municipal agencies learned well from the fatal and destructive Tubbs and Camp fires.  Yes, there were the massive evacuations, (I was evacuated twice), that were a real pain; and power shut offs, that were very costly. But there were no fatalities, and only 174 homes were lost, instead of thousands!

This is a new kind of fire for Northern California…Hurricane Fire.  Wind speeds in Healdsburg reached 90 mph.  We saw videos of ‘fire devils’ spinning wildly, erratically changing directions in an instant.

My neighborhood is re-populating.  Our gas was turned on last night about 7:30…heat, hot water, a working stove, oven and dryer are welcome comforts.

There are no accolades great enough to describe the dedicated effort of all those mentioned above!  We are all profoundly grateful!

Blessings to you all!

Again, devastating wildfires scorch California, wreaking havoc and bringing tragedy and losses unspeakable.  You will be reading this on Monday morning if we have power.  Sunday’s unprecedented wind event will have passed.  Hopefully, our losses will be minimal.  Your prayers are needed and welcome.

“Whoever speaks in primordial images speaks with a thousand voices; he enthralls and overpowers…he transmutes our personal destiny into the destiny of mankind, and evokes in us all those beneficent forces that ever and anon have enabled humanity to find refuge from every peril and to outlive the longest night.”  ~C.G. Jung

Stay safe!

Mitigation is used to reduce hostile or harsh situations, to reduce the pain, severity and seriousness of troubling circumstances.

To mitigate is to find compromise, to take positive action, to find creative solutions for very stressful experiences.  It is healthy compromise, not co-dependent justification. Mitigation helps to prevent further loss or degradation.

“There are lots of things, including changing the kind of inner dialog, that can mitigate anxiety.  And yes, there are people who have the glass half full and glass half empty, and I’m afraid the glass is going to break and I’ll cut myself on the shards.”  ~Scott Stossel

“How any person decides to emphasize strengths and mitigate weakness is something people have to figure out for themselves.  I’m wary of the self-help literature that suggests there are certain rules.”  ~Daniel Tammert

“You can never protect yourself 100%.  What you do is protect yourself as much as possible and mitigate risk to an acceptable degree.  You can never remove all risk.”  ~Kevin Mitnick

Blessings!!

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”  ~Thich Nhat Hanh

The 9 Superpowers of Your Smile, Psychology Today, May 25, 2016 lists the 9 as:

• Smiling can make you look younger.
• Smiling can make you look thinner.
• Smiling elevates your mood and creates a sense of well-being.
• Smiling induces more pleasure in the brain than chocolate.
• Even a forced smile can lead to a mood boost.
• Smiles can predict fulfillment in marriage.
• Smiling makes you seem courteous, likable, and competent.
• The span of a person’s smile can predict life span.
• Smiling is contagious.

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.  These are but trifles, to be sure, but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is the inconceivable.”  ~Joseph Addison

Many blessings, many Smiles!!