Daily Affirmation – Yup, Revised Again!

Well, I’ve revised my daily affirmation again!

I woke up this morning realizing that I wanted my affirmation to reflect my journey to my heart. Over coffee this morning I told my partner Terrie how amazing it is to look back on your life and see how in a gradual, seemingly invisible ways you have actually been growing in the direction you have set your intention upon. Back in 2004 I decided I needed to get in touch with my heart (and stop spending so much time in my head).

Incidentally, I would like to give credit to a friend of mine, Regina Bowden, for introducing me to the HeartMath Institute, which has done some amazing research on the heart-brain connection. They have studied how important the heart is to overall human well-being, and they have developed some very effective techniques for engaging your heart and improving your life.  (Check them out at http://www.heartmath.org/) It was my exposure to HeartMath that kickstarted my journey to my heart. (Speaking of giving credit, I like to say that Terrie “supercharged” my journey to my heart. Bless her!)

So, here is my newly revised affirmation:

“I am a warrior of the heart–a hologram of the cosmos. I stalk personal power and create my life moment-by-moment. I am healthy, wealthy, wise and free.”

Short and sweet. You might have noticed (if you have read the previous versions of my affirmation, as recorded in earlier blog posts) that I also stopped using “God” and substituted “cosmos”. That will be good fodder for a future blog entry.

The Four Elements – Primal Archetypes

Ancient science (e.g. Greek) identified certain primal archetypal patterns or forces, which they associated with four basic components of the material world, known as the four elements:  earth, water, fire and air. Behind these four physical elements are archetypal forces that we moderns also recognize or resonate with instantly when they are identified for us. For example, behind water is the archetypal force, flow.

Perhaps you have heard the expression “being in the flow.” This is usually meant to indicate a situation where everything seems to be going right for someone, whether in sports or in some other human endeavor. Water flows, and so can we. In other words, the archetypal dynamic of flow is shared by water, a physical phenomenon of nature, and by humans in our own personal world.

Archetypes and Personification

Before exploring some of the many archetypes that influence our lives and affect our personal power, I want to mention something that was a real “aha” for me. I used to think of archetypes as referring soley to human character types, such as “The Hero” or “The Victim”. These are indeed archetypes, but they are actually personifications of the archetypal energies, forces or realities that underlie them. Oftentimes, the personified archetypes are formed by combining several archetypal forces. For example, the archetypal forces of  “courage” and “fortitude” underlie the personified archetype known as “The Hero”.

There is plenty of information (books, articles, websites) on the personified archetypes, such as the work of Carolyn Myss. However, I find that working with the archetypal forces directly (rather than somewhat indirectly through the personified versions) is a particularly empowering approach. As I see it, the ultimate objective is to recognize and understand the operation of these archetypal forces in our world, then to integrate them into our own daily lives in order to create more happiness and freedom for ourselves and for others.

Archetypes – Source of Personal Power

I have come to perceive archetypes as a profound source of personal power. Of the many definitions of archetypes I have encountered, I resonate most with Roger Calverly’s version:  archetypes are “cosmic realities in the inner world” (from his book “The Primal Runes: Archetypes of Invocation and Empowerment”).

Of primary importance here is that archetypes are indeed realities, which exist as concepts–or more accurately, as forces–in the human psyche (i.e. “inner world”), and which reveal themselves in the outer world as attitudes and behaviors. However, archetypes do not originate within humans; instead they are reflections of forces that exist in the greater cosmos, or universe. As cosmic forces, similar to other universal (and invisible) forces like gravity or electromagnetism, they possess power, and we humans, who have no inherent power except as it comes from the greater cosmos, are able to access and thereby utilize this power–for better or for worse, I might add.

Archetypes are evidence that humans are a microcosm or hologram of the universe. What we find within ourselves is a mirror of what exists in the greater cosmos. The archetypes operate in our lives whether we are consciously aware of them, or not. By becoming consciously aware of their existence, their power and their impact on our lives, we can “plug in” to these realities and thereby harness them to increase our personal power and enhance our happiness and freedom.

In future blogs, I will be reflecting on many of the specific archetypes.

L.O.V.E. – Living Only Vibrant Energy

The acronym L.O.V.E., standing for “Living Only Vibrant Energy”, was given to me by Amanda Butler, who calls herself a “consciousness navigator” (visit her website at www.keenawah.com). Incorporating this concept into my own consciousness and value system has increased my personal power.

Basically, the message within this simple acronym can become a powerful guage for choosing everything you do in your life. For example, ask yourself at any given time in the day: “Am I feeling vibrant and energetic right now?” This leads quite naturally to other questions, such as:  “If not, why not, and what can I do about it?”

The real issue here is–at least during our waking hours–don’t all of us desire to live every moment possible in a state of vivid aliveness, as opposed, for example, to being bored or fatigued? How many of us are living in situations (such as at work or in our relationships or during the evening hours at home or during our weekends) that really do not make us feel very vibrant or energetic? As humans, our birthright is to experience a much, much higher quality of life.

Remaining actively aware of the L.O.V.E. acronym drives you to choose both thoughts and actions that automatically improve your quality of life and increase your personal power. What would the world be like if everyone was doing and thinking such that they felt L.O.V.E.?

The Essence of Reality

The Essence of Reality is the title of a book by Thomas Daniel Nehrer. The book is subtitled “A Clear Awareness of HOW LIFE WORKS”. Nehrer is a modern-day Socrates, goading us to a sometimes brutally honest assessment of ourselves, our beliefs, our actions, institutions, etc.

This book is one of the most potent manifestoes on personal power I have read to date. Nehrer has a very clear perpective on HOW LIFE WORKS, and he drives this home convincingly. He also provides highly practical approaches to gaining your own clear awareness of HOW LIFE WORKS.

Nehrer’s primary message is that our external lives are a reflection of WHO WE ARE internally. He presents some excellent material on the following topics: 1) Mechanisms of Mind, 2) Ways and Means of Introspection, 3) A Table of Contents (of the Mind)–a very useful way of looking at how your mind works.

Be warned that Nehrer’s book includes a scathing debunking of belief in God and of all man-made religions. If you are a “believer”, be prepared to have your beliefs challenged.

I also recommend Nehrer’s website at http//:www.nehrer.net.

An Example of Increasing Personal Power

I had a somewhat mundane but really quite awesome experience today of increasing my personal power.

My partner Terrie had created my website (www.YourPersonalPower.net) some weeks ago, but she had not gotten the chance until today to train me on how to update the website myself. Well, today was training day! Terrie taught me how to manage the website content myself–add new pages, add text to existing pages, add photos, etc.

By learning how to modify and enhance my own website, rather than be dependent on Terrie to do it all, I increased my personal power. I am very happy to be able to add to the website myself, and I now have the freedom to update it whenever I want to. Ah yes, increased personal power leads to more happiness and freedom!

The WHSP3R Wheel

The WHSP3R Wheel is my way of looking at the balance (or lack of it) in our daily lives. The WHSP3R Wheel is comprised of seven life values: Wealth, Health, Spirit, Passion, Purpose, Play and Relationships. (For an image of the WHSP3R Wheel, visit my website at www.yourpersonalpower.net.) Living a balanced life is one way to increase your personal power. Perhaps even more importantly, living a genuine life increases your personal power. By genuine I mean that your life (i.e. as reflected in the seven life values in the WHSP3R Wheel) matches who you truly are.

Life balance looks different for each person. That is, if we consider the WHSP3R Wheel as a pie and each of the seven life values as a slice of that pie, each of us would have slices of different sizes making up our total life pie. So, everyone’s pie looks different, but nevertheless, several things are true for everyone.

First, all seven life values are relevant to every human being. Second, one “bad” slice can spoil the whole pie. For example, you can have lots of money, great relationships, and so on, but if you are in poor health or if you have a serious illness of some kind, you may have a hard time experiencing happiness and freedom.  

I’ll talk more about the WHSP3R Wheel in future blogs.

Personal Power Leaks

I talk a lot about increasing personal power, but what about the opposite—that is, decreasing personal power. Of course, none of us would consciously choose to decrease our personal power, right? Nevertheless, in the reality of our daily lives, we do actually experience decreases in our personal power. I have heard them called “personal power leaks”. 

If we are honest with ourselves and aware of our inner world, we can quite easily detect when we are leaking personal power. For me, I typically have one or the other of two telltale inner psycho-emotional reactions when I am leaking personal power. At times I feel GUILT. At other times I feel SHAME. 

Now what is really interesting is when I eventually become fully aware that certain behaviors or situations in my life are, in fact, personal power leaks. The question now becomes, “Am I going to continue to do this thing or be this way when I know it results in a decrease of my personal power?” 

Our life journey, among many other things, is a path of recognizing our personal power leaks and sealing them off. This, of course, must necessarily involve changing our behavior, our habits, our lifestyle, etc. Many religions emphasize the need for us to change our life, but I found that I didn’t have the inner motivation—that is, the personal power–to do so until I adopted the path of the spiritual warrior, which includes stalking or continuously increasing my personal power.

My Geographical “Soul Home”

Earlier this year I spent four months in Florida in a wonderful little town called Flagler Beach on the east coast between Daytona Beach and St. Augustine. While living there, I discovered that Florida is my “soul home” on Earth. I don’t recall when or if I had already heard about the concept of a soul home before going to Florida. But I do know that my intuition and every cell in my body confirmed that I was truly HOME.

Nearly every morning I walked along the beach just after sunrise. It was during these daily walks that I learned to truly honor the elemental forces of creation: Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Spirit. These elemental forces are now a faithful source of personal power. In fact, I just recently discovered that the sun is perhaps the ultimate source of personal power…I will discuss this further in a future blog.

Meanwhile, though I had planned to return to Florida each winter, those plans are now on hold since I have met my soulmate (i.e. twin flame) Terrie. She lives in Michigan, where my permanent home is, as well. Early in our relationship we discussed my newly found soul affinity with Florida; and, of course, being my soulmate, she has profound respect for this fact. We have agreed upon our intention to spend significant time in Florida in the future.