Could I Have Been A Spiritual Seeker Already at Such a Young Age?

Posted March 22, 2014 by Barbara Techel

Today I opened my email to read one of my favorite newsletters which I subscribe to and shows up twice-monthly called, Animal Voices.

In each issue Dawn shares one of her animal wisdom tarot cards, sharing the beautiful illustration and the message of which animal presented itself. Today was the octopus. Immediately my mind flashed back to when I was a little girl.

I’ve not thought about this in a long time. But I remember wanting this bright pink stuffed octopus with its lime green underside. This promoted me to open up a disk I have that my mom gave me a few years ago— photos of me from my earlier years. I recalled the photo above being on the disk.

I’m not recalling exactly why I wanted this octopus, but perhaps my mom can shed some light on this.

Reading the tarot card for octopus had me wondering if perhaps I was a soul here once before and now reside in this body that I am today. Was I in some ways a spiritual seeker at this young age already?

OCTOPUS
Eight of Shells

This card suggests the start of a soul-searching journey. You may not know what you are looking for — expanded awareness? spiritual fulfillment? — and your travels may not be easy, but you have the fortitude to find what you need.An ancient creature, intelligent, creative and complex, Octopus is an excellent guide to exploring the dark unknown of Self.

Unpredictable with an uncanny ability to strategize, Octopus can help us to get what we want in efficient, though often unusual, ways.

Message: When looking for answers, deepen and observe.

Dawn went on to share this from her Animal Teachings book, which really resonated with me: Their spiral imagery suggests the universe expanding, creation unfolding, consciousness opening wide. Octopus encourages us to be curious, to see more and feel more, and to expand ourselves through knowledge, experience and creative expression.

I really feel like this is exactly where I am right now in my life. This yearning to deepen more and wanting to understand more about the teachings of animals. I don’t know where this is leading me, but I just have this fascination with wanting to know more.

When moments like this happen and reading the octopus tarot card and the image of when I was a little girl coming immediately to mind holding my stuffed pink octopus, I don’t dismiss it so easily as I would have in the past. Just like other animal messages I’ve been getting in unusual ways lately. Or perhaps it is not so unusual, but just that I am opening more to what is all around me.

Just acknowledging this and writing about it makes me feel so alive and wanting to be even more curious. Will see what comes next!

Love, Ducks, and Making a Difference

Posted March 20, 2014 by Barbara Techel

I was feeling kind of down today. Nothing in particular, but rather a few little things that have been bothering me. Plus the sun has not been out for about 6-7 days. I was feeling rather melancholy.

The thought popped into my head, Take a walk along Lake Michigan. I pushed it away. It popped up again. I pushed it away. Well, this went on and on all morning. Okay, Okay, I thought! Stop pestering me. I decided to finish my work and then head out.

Then the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams popped into my mind. So I downloaded it to my ipod.

I honestly don’t remember if I ever walked along the lake front. If I did, it was a long time ago. But the impulse was strong and I figured I best follow it. And quite honestly, I was getting tired of feeling sad and like I wanted to jump out of my skin.

Thirty minutes later I arrived and parked. The sun was trying to peek out, but was still cloudy. I bundled up and started to walk north.

I hit play on my ipod for Pharrell’s song to begin playing. If you’ve not heard the song before, I include the video below. Just try and not “be happy and clap along.”

The seagulls flying above, a soft wind, and Happy song in my ears, before I knew it, my spirit began to lift.

As I walked further, I came across a dear little grandma and grandpa feeding the ducks. The back of the trunk of their car was open and I could see a big bucket where they kept the food for the ducks.

They looked so sweet and happy throwing seed to the ducks who were quacking and chasing after it. Watching them with Happy blaring away in my ears (I played it over and over), I felt my spirit soar even higher. Here these two people were in their own way, making a difference on this cloudy, cool day—the first day of spring, in the life of these ducks.

Now really happy, I felt like dancing down the rest of the path and back again. I picked up my pace, enjoyed the wind blowing through my hair, inhaled the fresh air, smiled, and felt grateful for a simple pleasure that just changed my whole attitude. And then the sun came out.

Who’d of thunk, after how I felt this morning that I’d be just about me dancing in my chair as I write this post, listening to Happy again.

Sometimes all it takes, is taking that first step, and listening to that impulse when you you feel down and out…. to feel “happy and clap along!”

Reflection: I Kid You Not. This Really Happened.

Posted March 19, 2014 by Barbara Techel

I am on day ten of the ecourse, “The Sacred Alone” facilitated by Susannah Conway. Every morning I’ve read the essay, done the 5-minute meditation, and wrote in my journal for at least 10 minutes. Except for Sunday, when I did The Sacred Alone in the afternoon, which was a lovely change of pace for that day.

Yesterday we worked with holding beads in our hands during the meditation, so I added the beads to this small altar that has now become an unplanned altar of sorts, dedicated to the sacred alone time I’m doing.

Today’s meditation is what Susannah called, “Mirror Meditation.” I am familiar with mirror work having been introduced to it through my life coach many years ago.

But using it within a meditation was intriguing… as well as, challenging. We were encouraged to look into a mirror. I chose the one I had nearby which is a small round one as you see in the photo.

We were told to just look without making any judgment. So looking in a mirror pretty much first thing in the morning isn’t what most women would say is their favorite thing to do. But being dedicated to this ritual, I didn’t want to back down even though it felt uncomfortable at first.

Right away, forgetting what Susannah just said, I noticed my flaws, or what I really should say as “perceived” flaws. The blemish on my nose, the age spots, the dark in the corner of my eyes, my neck which wrinkles that seem to wrinkle a little more each day. While looking at my neck, in my head I heard myself say, “What is that anyways?”

Susannah guided us in the short meditation challenging ourselves to really look at ourselves kindly and with compassion. To think of someone we love and cherish as if you were looking at them, but to apply that to our own reflection. To look into our own eyes and like what we see. To say to ourselves out loud, I see you, I honor you, I love you. It felt odd, but Susannah assured us that was okay.

After the meditation, one of our prompts for journaling was to write what came up for us when we looked in the mirror. Thinking of my friend who I adore, who I had thought of when I was looking in the mirror, I realized something.

It’s something I continue to work on within myself— to be a reflection and an example to other women to like who they are. I’m not always perfect, and am a work in progress. But this friend came into my mind and I knew it was a reminder to me to be that example not only for her, but for other women too. To like what I see. To honor myself so they too can honor themselves.

As I wrote those words, I was moved to tears. After I was done writing in my journal, as I’ve done since starting this ecourse, (though it is not actually part of the 20-minute ritual), I picked a Grace card. I pick one at random or follow my intuition. The word reflection popped in my head as I picked up the deck of cards. So I counted how many letters are in reflection and counted to card 10.

I kid you not… this is the card that came up — SELF: Go within. When we invest more energy in developing our spiritual lives, the outer world begins to take care of itself.

Goosebumps ran up and down my arms. Wow, I thought, this is amazing. I sat in awe for quite a few moments and couldn’t believe what just happened.

Then later this morning I received a text from the very same friend who I thought about while I did my mirror meditation. She sent me a photo she took of herself with her phone, looking into her mirror. It looks like her, but yet, it does not. It was so very beautiful. I wanted to cry from the shear beauty of it, but also from how connected I felt in that moment with her– as if we were seeing each others soul’s, both having done mirror work in our own way without realizing the other was doing it. By the way, she is not taking this ecourse, so she wouldn’t have known I had just done this same thing this morning.

It was just the photo of her and no text. In some ways, I felt like I was looking at my younger self after having just done the mirror work. It felt so surreal.

I then checked my email. I subscribe to Daily Joyride, so each day I get a different quote. This is the quote that was in my inbox:

“Tear off the mask. Your face is beautiful.” -Rumi

No denying there was absolute synchronicity going on here today. I’m still marveling in it and will likely for quite some time to come.