IN IT TOGETHER
AUGUST 2013

Hello Everyone...

I can't say I'm brokenhearted that July has passed. The double whammy of the internalization cycle happening at the same time as the externalization cycle seemed to be shaking people up like crazy, and I know a lot of us were feeling urged to "hurry up and get there" at the same time we were feeling urged to "batten the hatches and retreat". That push-me, pull-me energy made for a lot of chaotic energy in ourselves and in our world, to say the least. Emotions seemed high for so many, and I was aware of reactionary energy swirling all around as people exploded in outrage or hurt at something said or done - one minute would be calm and the next a tangle of loud voices and angry words.

Something I've been enjoying since beginning the process of writing my monthly newsletter is that I get to consciously reflect on what it is I'VE been learning/experiencing in the last month so I can share it with you, since we are indeed in it together. Dixie, Ava and I used to offer five day workshops (we called them The Reyna Experience), the purpose of which was to help participants identify and release painful emotional memories so that they were no longer limited by them. One of the monologues Dixie offered had to do with how easy it is to stuff emotional pain....that sometimes we don't even KNOW we've been hurt - we just stuff it and get on to the next moment in the same way that we can bump into something hard enough to cause our skin to bruise and then just keep going, only to look at the bruise later and wonder how in the world it got there. Our days - shoot, our MOMENTS - are so full, it's difficult to find the time to reflect when something affects us at an emotional level. For me, these newsletters offer a chance for me to review the past month's lessons/opportunities for growth and any pain or fear-filled moment I may have experienced, as well as any insight I may have gained, and share it with you.

Dixie has been mentioning for years in her newsletters that people are becoming more and more polarized; and I don't recall many of her newsletters that haven't exhorted us to strive to live in Spiritual Integrity. As emotional explosions occurred all around me in July (more so than usual), I was fortunate this month to be able to maintain my "observer" role for the most part, which allowed me to "see" perhaps a little more clearly the purpose behind the polarization and the good in it. One of the most pronounced examples for me of how we are becoming so polarized was the Zimmerman/Martin trial. There were no two ways about it - sides were clearly drawn and you were either right or wrong to have the viewpoint you had, depending on whom you were talking to. It was SO pronounced, the polarization of that particular situation, that it was easy to see the good in it - I saw countless opportunities to refine my own being based on the buttons that were either pushed in me or that I saw pushed in others.

I think it's a given for most of us, now, that we're all wonderful mirrors of each other. What we see/feel in another is based on who WE are and what we see and feel in US (whether complimentary or otherwise). If we don't like a quality/trait in someone else, it's because we've either just recently learned to overcome it and so perhaps still need to "condemn" it to make sure WE don't do it/be it again, or because we have the same quality in ourselves but can't see it as easily as we can in another. And of course that's true of the qualities/traits we see in others that we particularly like. We notice "good" things in others because we're either striving to take on those same qualities/traits, or because we already have them whether we know it or not. We reflect who WE are (or who we've been) when in relationship with others.

The goodness I saw in the intensity of July's latest polarization was that it clearly magnified our "buttons" - those things in us that cause reaction....and we had the opportunity to learn from those buttons if we chose to....to refine our souls by acknowledging/processing our buttons so that we CAN get to the place where living in Spiritual Integrity is automatic in us. However, we have to WANT to do so and we have to do what it takes TO do so. If we don't take the time to reflect on our buttons - to see the "bruise" in us and understand where/what/how it came to be there, and release it.....then all we're doing is recycling the same issues over and over in us and adding to the "dis-ease" in our world by coming from a place of confusion and a lack of clarity.....adding THAT to the collective energy of mankind when God knows, we've got enough of that already. I don't think any of us can deny that Spirit needs clear, clean channels more than ever these days!!

As humans, we tend to make someone else "at fault". We think and even say out loud things like, "Wow - he/she is an idiot, asshole, control freak, hateful, an egoist, totally selfish", etc - whatever it is we need to think or say to make the other person be "wrong" or "bad". For so many people in the world, the buck stops there (so to speak) in the thought process, which then allows the situation/reaction to remain outside of them. It's easier to make someone else "wrong" or "bad" so that WE don't have to take responsibility for how we react. We get to feel better about ourselves by believing it's someone else's actions or beliefs that is the problem....we're "fine" - they're the ones who are screwed up!

For me, one of the best ways we can aid Spirit in this time is to make a promise to ourselves and to Spirit that we not only pay attention to what we react to - our buttons, no matter how "big" or "little" - but that we then give ourselves time every day (even if it's only five minutes) to reflect on why our buttons were pushed. Did we react to something because we were afraid? If so, why? What did it say about US? Did we react to something because we were feeling guilty? If so, why? What did it say about US? Did we react to something because we were feeling angry? If so, why? What did it say about us, etc., etc. When we commit to digging "it" out and releasing it (whatever "it" might be) every time an emotion is evoked in us that we acknowledge and release, our emotional bodies become clearer and cleaner.....and again, we're aiding Spirit by allowing ourselves to become clean and clear enough in our Beings so that they CAN work through us....and when they're working through us, Spiritual Integrity is automatic.

Absolutely, the world DOES appear to have gone crazy, for lack of a better word.....but in that "crazy" are countless moments and opportunities presented to learn how to live in Spiritual Integrity and come into Harmony with our own Beings and each other. The intense build-up of situations/events that polarize us are ultimately a Gift to us from Spirit. We just have to be willing to see the Gift and accept it - and we can't accept it as long as we don't know it exists by making it be someone else who is out of balance with their thoughts or beliefs and placing the responsibility/blame on them rather than looking to our own Beings.....and by stumbling through each day and not even noticing we've been bruised!!!

Taking time to reflect so that we can identify and release our buttons and clear us out a little bit more is what WE can do to aid the Angels....WHICH reminds me of this beautifully written song that Ava played for me years ago and which is even more pertinent than it was when she played it then.....hope you've been fortunate enough to hear it - the lyrics are incredible. The song is "Calling All Angels" by Jane Siberry with KD Lang.

"Calling All Angels" by Jane Siberry with k.d.lang
Santa Maria, Santa Teresa, Santa Anna, Santa Susannah
Santa Cecilia, Santa Copelia, Santa Domenica, Mary Angelica
Frater Achad, Frater Pietro, Julianus, Petronilla
Santa, Santos, Miroslaw, Vladimir
and all the rest
A man is placed upon the steps, a baby cries
And high above the church bells start to ring
And as the heaviness of the body, oh the heaviness settles in
Somewhere you can hear a mother sing
Then it's one foot then the other as you step out onto the road
How much weight? how much weight?
Then it's how long? and how far?
And how many times before it's too late?
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
Walk me through this one
Don't leave me alone
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
We're cryin' and we're hurtin'
And we're not sure why...
And every day you gaze upon the sunset
With such love and intensity
It's almost...it's almost as if
If you could only crack the code
Then you'd finally understand what this all means
But if you could...do you think you would
Trade in all the pain and suffering?
Ah, but then you'd miss
The beauty of the light upon this earth
And the sweetness of the leaving
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
Walk me through this one
Don't leave me alone
Callin' all angels
Callin' all angels
We're tryin'
We're hopin'
We're hurtin'
We're lovin'
We're cryin'
We're callin'
Cause we're not sure how this goes

Let's see how we do with August!

Hold on to your Spirit...        
Marty