Contact
Calendar
Newsletter
Podcasts
Concerts
& Workshops
Biooking
Info
Articles
Hildegard
BookStore
Links
Oprah, Eckhart and Obama
Pointy Sticks and Conscious Actions
-by Norma Gentile, posted 4/14/08
Dear Friends,
Whenever large numbers of people engage in a conscious
action, repercussions resonate out from them to all of us
here on the planet.
THE CLIFF NOTES
VERSION
Oprah and Eckhart Tolle have created a sacred space into
which millions of people have entered. In this space they
have all been exploring the 'pain body' these past two
weeks. Emotional pain, general feelings of not being
comfortable in your body, memories with odd, sorrow emotions
attached to them, and a sense of "I have to do something'
are ways to describe the sensations that arise when you
become aware of your pain body. Their shared exploration and
attention to their own pain bodies has peeled away the
coverings that many of us have placed on our own pain body.
This is how we, individually and as a planet, become aware of what we are ready to change: we notice what hurts! If you have any sense of yourself as a spiritual being, your antennae has probably been picking this up.
And now, finally we are arriving into the action part of the cycle.
ACTION or REACTION?
The action mode of a creative cleansing and healing cycle is not a reaction mode. This is not about shaking the shit off of your hands, but about bringing it out to your garden and using it as fertilizer.
And this relates to Barack Obama. He made a comment last week that seems to be everywhere. But its complexity, in its complete form, has eluded the reporters and media. You can read it for yourself at
http://factcheck.barackobama.com/factcheck/2008/04/11/transcript_of_obamas_remarks_a.php
Notice that he leads off openly acknowledging the wound that many have around their financial situation and the government. My sense is that he is commenting on the arising awareness of our collective pain around poverty and unequal distribution of wealth here in our country, which of course reflects out into the world.
When we feel pain, and believe it comes from a source that we cannot control, we will usually turn and start to over-control whatever else in our life we can control. This is one root of addictions. A simplistic example is how easily it is to overeat when we are in an emotional crisis. Or turn to alcohol when a spouse leaves or we lose our job or we don't feel safe expressing loss and grief.
We create new pain that we can control ourselves, and inflict upon ourselves, so that we cannot feel so acutely the pain of what we can't control. Once we turn and face the original pain, we no longer need the addiction. And in turning to face what we can't control, we are likely to find an action that can be taken.
Obama was expressing, in my opinion, how many people have suffered financial distress for many years, since the early 1970s. It is now so profound and pervasive that we are overwhelmed. And in the overwhelm, we turn not just to traditional 'bad' addictions, but to seemingly acceptable addictions, such as social issues. But we are treating them as addictions.
And we bring with us the need to control these issues. We lose our ability to hear each other, and to understand, within our hearts, what each of us is saying. When anyone of us comes to an issue in our life, be it abortion or guns or education, because of an underlying need to control pain, we are going to over-react to that issue. In this over-reacting, we are actually creating more distress and pain in our lives.
A simple example might be this; a clean house is nice, but a sterile home is a sure sign of something amiss in one's level of intimacy with family and friends. In a state of addiction, it is easier to clean a rug over and over and feel frustration, rather than have a heart felt conversation with the children who are tracking in the dirt.
Feeling the feelings that we don't want to feel is the hardest thing we get to do as humans.
Financial distress is abundant. You can live in the USA or Canada or Europe and feel the underlying current of 'not enough'. Terrorism is bred out of poverty. Few people overthrow a government or system that supports them in living well and eating abundantly! Acts of extreme control are part of terrorism. These acts arise out of feelings of helplessness. This is what Oprah, Eckhart and Obama are saying, each in their own fashion.
THE NEXT STEP
Just as Oprah and Eckhart Tolle created a sacred space to poke us all with a little pointy stick, we can now chose to address whatever our personal little pointy stick has awoken within us.
What is most up for you RIGHT NOW? Address that. Do something about it. Don't shake it off of your hands in disdain. Dance with it in meditation and yoga and journaling and walks, until you know exactly what it is, and where to let your soul plant it so it becomes nourishment for your life.
This is the garden of
your life. The gate is open. Come inside!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you would like assistance in recognizing, releasing and
fertilizing the larger issues of your life, I have private
healing sessions available. My guides are glad to connect
with your guides to create a healing session by phone or in
person. For more information, see
www.healingchants.com/privatesessions.html I'm available
this week and into early next week.
My upcoming healing concerts and workshop are below. Please feel free to pass this newsletter onto friends, and let them know if I'll be in their city soon!
My best to all who
read this,
-Norma
Norma Gentile
sound shaman
www.healingchants.com
- - - - - - Upcoming Healing Events - - - - - - -Norma Gentile
Private
Healing Sessions
(phone, or in person in SE Michigan) available April 6 - 23.
Please email me at: norma@healingchants.com
For more info on my
events, please see the Calendar
Page
www.healingchants.com/itinerary.html
You can purchase tickets and register for these events now
on that page:
Atlanta
April 26 Meditation Concert
April 27 Embodying Healing Sound Workshop
April 28-29 Private Healing Sessions
Ann Arbor
May 3 Healing Evening
Madison,
Wisconsin
May 18
Unity Church Guest Speaker 8:30am, 10:30am
May 18 Sound Shamanism Workshop 1:30-4:30
May 19 Private Healing Sessions
Chicago
May 20-21 Private Healing Sessions
Ann
Arbor, Michigan
May 30
Concert with Ruth Cunningham of anonymous4 (Kerrytown
Concert House)
May 31 Concert with myself and Ruth Cunningham of Anonymous
4 (Kerrytown
Concert House)
Ottawa,
Canada
(3 spaces left)
Fri-Sun, June 20-22 Weekend
Sound Shamanism Level 1 Workshop
Private Healing Sessions in Ontario
Monday, June 23 near Ottawa
June 24-25 in Toronto
norma@healingchants.com or 734-330-3997
For more info on my events, please see the Calendar
Page
YES please pass this email onto anyone you think would be
interested. Just be sure to include my name and contact
info.
Norma's other offerings
HEALING MUSIC CDS
listen at iTunes, amazon.com, or her website
www.healingchants.com/recordings.html
SOUND HEALING:
1. A spoken meditation with Tibetan Singing Bowl
2. Awaken - Norma sings a song from the Hathors,
accompanying herself with schruti box
sponsored by Spirit of Maat
http://www.spiritofmaat.com/apr08/awaken.html
PODCAST:
Awakening to Your Body's Natural Intuition: A Meditation and
Teaching, excerpted from a Sound Shamanism Weekend
Retreat.
http://www.normagentile.libsyn.com
-----Into downloading? See iTunes for Norma's podcasts and
music
-----Not into downloading? Prefer a CD? Now you can purchase
Norma's podcasts as CDs.
www.healingchants.com/podcasts.html
Norma Gentile,
Healing Chants
PO Box 971020, Ypsilanti, MI 48198 USA
734-330-3997, www.healingchants.com
info@healingchants.com