Take two aspirin? No, just stop watching the news!

I used to be a bit of a news junkie. For years, I had an editorial job that allowed me to work on my laptop from the comfort of my own home. Many days, I would have the television on in the background. I’d start the morning with the Today Show, move on to The View and then watch a few political shows on CNN throughout the course of the afternoon. In the evenings, I would top that all off with watching the ABC World News or NBC World News while I ate dinner. Not to mention, I supplemented that with reading political blogs and reading news all over the Web. By the end of the day, I'd be shouting at the television and outraged at the injustice, lies and violence. I would feel my blood pressure rising as the negative imagery and language would start triggering my emotions and nervous system.

Over the past five years or so, my life has gotten too busy to watch quite that much news or television at all. But I was still watching a considerable amount of it, including the local and national news each evening. What I came to observe more and more was how NEGATIVE, UNBALANCED AND SKEWED the news is these days. I have a hard time believing there aren’t any positive human interest stories that could be shared, and they do always seem to sprinkle at least one into the mix. But for the most part, the news has turned into one depressing, sad and horrifying story after another.

If I am to believe The Law of Attraction and put it into practice in my life, I no longer want to program my mind with negative video and audio by watching the mainstream news. So for the past few months, I’ve just stopped watching the news. The little television I do watch now is primarily focused on my two-year old daughter’s learning and entertainment. We watch Sesame Street and American Idol because we all love singing and music (we record it so we don’t have to watch the commercials).

There is so much violence on television these days. It pervades everything. It makes me sad for the world, for all of us. What we put our attention on gains strength and grows, right? Well if that’s the case, we need to stop putting so much of our focus on violence and upheaval! We need to program our minds with peace and love.

I still catch big items in the news via Facebook updates from friends and newsfeeds that I subscribe to on Twitter. But for the most part, I’ve taken myself out of the news loop. And I have to say that I haven’t missed it at all! I noticeably feel better WITHOUT that negative programming conditioning my mind! Watching all that news just gives me more things to fear, grieve and worry about. That’s not where I want to put my energy anymore. I want to raise my vibrational energy, not bring it down. So, my two cents, you’d be better off if you stop watching the news!

Shirley MacLaine's "Out on a Limb"

I’m reading Shirley MacLaine’s book Out on a Limb. I saw the movie miniseries a long time ago, probably 10-15 years ago and really haven’t thought of it since. I know I enjoyed the movie at the time and remember it having some pretty outrageous concepts in it. I remember Shirley MacLaine meeting an extraterrestrial, which I found hard to believe at the time. I also remember her with her arms up in the air shouting out, “I am God!” I also found that a bit odd back then, but now I’m not so sure it’s all that outlandish or crazy a concept.

I love all the quotes from the writings of other Law of Attraction thinkers throughout history that begin each chapter of the book – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Albert Einstein, Henry David Thoreau, Kant, Balzac, and so many others that I’ve never even heard of before now. I need to go back and take some notes of all the authors and writings she mentions so I can read them myself too and continue my exploration and journey of reality and consciousness.

I am only about halfway through the book, so I don’t know what the whole thing is about. I honestly can only remember snippets from the movie since it has been so long since I watched it. But right now, she is exploring channeling, reincarnation and the nature of reality. It is so fascinating and intriguing! I feel like I am only scratching the surface of All That Is, and it is already mind boggling. But it also thrilling and exciting and awesome.

A couple of weeks ago I was on my computer and a little voice in my head whispered, “Out on a Limb.” I don’t know why but I listened to it and immediately went to Amazon.com and ordered the book. I am so glad I did. I am resonating with it so well. I am so busy that I can only read it in short bursts here and there, but find myself taking any spare moment I can to get back to it.

Lately, I have been feeling guided toward different decisions and circumstances. It sounds almost superstitious and kooky to say it in writing here, but that’s what it feels like. Perhaps we are always guided by something greater than ourselves and I am only becoming more aware of that guidance right now. I don’t know. I just feel in my bones that I am being directed in some way, on some path. The confusing part is...am I attracting these circumstances to myself through Law of Attraction principles? Or is there some spiritual guide in the non-physical realm guiding me? Or is it some portion of both? It is so much to try to get my head around!

Whatever is happening, it makes me feel alive and excited about what I am learning. I hope whatever is happening that I continue on what feels like an accelerating path of spiritual discovery.  

The Strangest Secret in the World by Earl Nightingale

I was watching a MindMovies video interview with Bob Proctor, a Law of Attraction proponent who appeared in the movie, The Secret. In the clip, Proctor mentions an old record he used to listen to over and over again that helped him learn and experience the Law of Attraction in his life. I found this video on YouTube that is the audio of The Strangest Secret in the World with some images that go along with it.

As an FYI, I found some search results for The Strangest Secret in the World that try to get you to pay for this audio or give your personal information to download for free. You don't need to do that. This is a free YouTube version that you can "favorite" on your YouTube account and watch as many times as you like at no cost. I'm personally going to try to start watching reaffirming/reprogramming videos like this every day to start my day to see if I can start changing the trajectory of my life via Law of Attraction principles.

Enjoy!

Out-of-body experiences, remote viewing, extraterrestrials...oh my!

I’m reading a book right now called Cosmic Voyage by Courtney Brown. I think I found this book at a library sale for $0.25 more than 10 years ago (in my early twenties). I remember at that time trying to read it and having to put it away. I said to myself in my head when I first started reading it, “I’m not ready for this yet.” At the time, what was being presented seemed so outlandish to me that my mind was unwilling to open itself up to the book at all.

Since then, I have read the book a few times and I'm almost finished with another read-through right now. I don’t know why I have been drawn to this text on more than one occasion. The author talks about using remote viewing techniques to discover the history and presence of extraterrestrials and UFOs on Earth and Mars, and also claims to have communicated with “subspace” beings who do not live in physical form but who influence goings-on here on our planet. Even further, he claims to have communications with a Galactic Federation and even Jesus himself.

The subject matter seems so crazy and out there, but it is also absolutely fascinating and captivating at the same time. I have no idea if there is any truth or validity to what is in this book, but I find it hard to put down. Maybe the reason it is so interesting is because it is so outrageous. I don’t know if there is any truth within the pages of this book, but it is thought-provoking nonetheless. I feel like there are truths weaved throughout this book, but there are other parts that seem way too out there for me.

However, I like his recommended program for person mind expansion to potentially validate his findings for myself. I have always wanted to take a Transcendental Meditation course and visit The Monroe Institute and participate in the Gateway Voyage program. I’ve even seen Remote Viewing courses offered at the Omega Institute that pique my interest. I have read Robert Monroe’s books myself and there is a lot of fascinating information there that I think deserves a further look. I haven’t had the opportunity as of yet to explore any of those classes, but they remain on my wish list of to-do’s.

I personally had an out-of-body experience when I was seven years old after being hit by a car. I didn't realize at the time that I had an OOB experience, because I wasn't aware of that being a potentially strange thing. But I remember watching my body being put in the ambulance on a stretcher and seeing all the people lined up on the side of the street watching what was happening. I later woke up in my body at the hospital. But I am convinced because of that experience that we are not our physical bodies and that the spirit lives on after our physical form expires.

Since that experience, I have read many books on the afterlife, out-of-body experiences, reincarnation, and other unconventional topics. I have also had communications through psychic mediums with relatives who have died. I know there is a lot of skepticism about this topic, but I am wholly confident in the integrity of the readings I received. Even my grandfather, who is a very skeptical and cynical person, said he was floating above his body after having heart surgery.

There's so much to learn and explore and I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of Knowing. I’ve actually talked to my husband about Transcendental Meditation. When our daughter is a little bit older, I would love for all of us to learn how to practice TM together and make it a part of our daily family life. I think it would just be wonderful and so exciting to explore the nature of reality together.

Do you have theme songs to your dreams?

I think my Inner Voice, Higher Self, Subconscious, Spirit…something…speaks to me at night while I’m sleeping through music. For several years now, I always wake up in the morning with a few lines of a song in my head. The lyrics always seem to speak to what I’m thinking or feeling or going through at that time.

This morning I woke up with the chorus from a Leann Rimes song called “Something’s Gotta Give” in my head. The lyrics go:

Something's gotta give me butterflies
Something's gotta make me feel alive
Something's gotta give me dreams at night
Something's gotta make me feel alright
I don't know where it is
But something's gotta give

I think these lyrics speak to a longing in my right now for something more, something greater than what I am experiencing right now in my life. I am longing for something to make me feel more ALIVE.

I am making some small steps right now to try to improve things. Yesterday I called the university where I last took classes, so I could figure out what I need to do to go through the re-admissions process and start taking part-time classes again.

People are always amazed that I make a six-figure salary and am so far in my career, yet I still haven’t finished my Bachelor’s Degree. It’s a bit of a skeleton in the closet for me. But with my career going so well all these years, I guess I never made it a priority to go back and finish it. Unfortunately, I think I’m at a point in my career now that it is going to impede further progress. Beyond that, I really want to check off that box. It would be a huge sense of accomplishment for me and a big monkey off my back in an emotional and psychological perspective. I think I will just feel LIGHTER when I finish it.

Beyond feeling more alive, I think I just want to feel more like ME. Over the past few years, I feel like I don’t do anything anymore that makes me ME. I used to meditate regularly, attend yoga classes three or four times a week, participate in political and social causes, go to fundraisers, journal regularly, read constantly. Becoming a wife and a mother seems to have usurped a lot of the time and space in my life that I used to reserve for those things.

I guess the good news is that I recognize that this has happened, so I now have the ability to try to change it.

Baby steps.

Longing for someday...

On the recommendation of a friend, I had a phone reading with a psychic/intuitive reader named Shaman Star (Paula) about a month ago and one of the first things she said to me was that she could see that I wanted to be a spiritual teacher. When she said it, I welled up with tears, because it is something that is true in the deepest part of my heart. I have felt at lost on how to make that a reality though for quite some time now.

The fact is that I have a husband and a young daughter. Although I feel my husband and I are both contributing in important ways, I am the financial breadwinner in the family and support our daily expenses with a mid-senior-level corporate job. 

On top of that, Life has presented us with a lot of challenges over the past few years, as it has for many. We had to sell one home, another is in foreclosure. The third burned down in a fire. I was laid off from one job, found a contract job for a year and then found a new full-time job after that – but it required us to move across the country to somewhere unfamiliar to both of us. Since that time, both our fathers passed away, my husband’s business went down the tubes and he is in an expensive legal battle.  Add to that some medical issues for both of us as icing on the cake. This is all over the course of about two and a half years.

Through all of that, we were navigating the waters of parenthood with our now almost two-year-old daughter.  She is the light of our lives and makes me smile and laugh and fills me with more love than I ever thought was possible.  And while I know we are blessed in countless ways and I find gratitude every day, it has still been a grueling few years for us and some of the most stressful of my 35 years.

The reader thought I should research a placed called The New Seminary of Interfaith Studies in New York. Apparently, they have correspondence courses and she suggested I look into them as a means of slowly working toward a goal of being a spiritual teacher. It sounds fabulous. I thought, “Sure, add it to the list of things I wish I could do!” It’s just hard to know when I’ll be able to make those wishes a reality with all my mundane responsibilities and debt that keep me perpetually depleted and exhausted.

I hope someday to get to a place in my life when things slow down enough that I can attend to me and my longings again. With everything that’s going on right now, I just have to hold onto the hope that those opportunities are ahead of me and do myself to strive toward them. For now, this blog is my first step toward honoring a deeper part of myself that needs to speak, that needs a voice, that needs more than the limited, unrewarding and unsatisfying rat race that so many of us find ourselves stuck in.

Hope.

Welcome to "Seeking the Secret" blog

3/22/11

I’ve spent many years searching for my own sense of spirituality, reading self-help and self-discovery books, digging through ancient religious texts in search of obvious and hidden messages and meanings. All of this has led me to a loose set of universal beliefs about how the Universe works, what God is, and what the meaning of my Life is.

Much of what I believe falls in line with New Thought concepts and Law of Attraction principles, which was popularized and brought into mainstream consciousness a few years back by the book and movie called The Secret.  Words shared by authors like Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Cheryl Richardson, Pema Chodron, Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, Ernest Holmes, and Louise Hay resonate deeply inside me. But I know I have so much more to learn and so much further to go on my journey of self-discovery and self-remembering.

In the best of times, I feel pretty well aligned with the Universe and experience the pleasure of synchronistic events like always getting a perfect parking spot when and where I need it. Unfortunately, I’ve never seemed to be able to find the discipline, insight or faith to take it any further than that and truly experience Grace in any sort of consistent or miraculous way. I know there is so much more of myself calling to me to come home to it and unveil the spiritual being that I truly am at the core of my being.

I am starting this blog in the hopes that it will prod me to more deeply explore the meaning of my existence and how I can become more self-realized through the exploration of different spiritual texts and practices. I called this blog “Seeking the Secret” because I am still searching for answers and meaning in my life. I want to use this blog as a way to explore and expand my understanding of spirituality and what it means to be alive and part of the unified fabric of this infinite Universe.

If you somehow cross paths with me here, I thank you for taking the time to read this blog and hope that you will find something here that speaks to you. I hope you will also share your stories, thoughts and feelings with me if you feel so inspired. I believe there is something to be learned from everyone we meet and every moment we experience.

Namaste,
Elliana