Required reading for week is: Celtic Shaman, pages 15-21: The Way of the Shaman, pages 135-141. Visit the following site on HEALING. The class shall be about healing yourself.
As you may have noticed this section is about you, and how you deal with yourself and how to heal yourself. It is important that you deal with these issues; even if you wern't studying shamanism you would still need to learn how to do this.
OK, to finish up with your reading we have added 3 more exercises.
Exercise 1 Exercise 1 is designed to change your outlook on things and to show you what your actual outlook is. Example: My personal outlook is if it don’t kill you then it will only make you stronger, I have learned this because I have had several life experiences, not all good , but all a learning experiences. I could have chose to look at them as my life sucks, or OK don’t want to do this again. However, I chose the latter, because if I never traveled the path I did, I might not be right here right now.
1: Make a list of your current beliefs.
2: Next to them list the opposite.
Example: life is good--life sucks.
I can't do this--I can do anything.
Read over your list. Are you a negative or positive person? What can you do to change the negatives beliefs you have?
Discuss this in e-group
Excercise2 Changing your habits. Habits are both good and bad. Brushing your teeth everyday is a good habit. Not showering everyday is a bad habit. It is important that you recognize your habits as being both good and bad. It is part of your personality, part of you. You need to decide what it is about you that you don’t like or need to change. This might be one of the hardest things you do. But remember you can teach an old dog new tricks.
1: Make a list of your habits/routines.
2: Look for patterns.
3: Find the humor in your habits--do not judge them.
4: Identify a alternative course of action.
5: Try it out.
Remember it takes a long time to change habits and to create new ones do not lose patience. Stay the course. Dicuss this is e-group.
Exercise 3 Relationships can be the most difficult aspect of your life to sort through. Relationships are a very influential part of your life. The relationship you have with your family can be very difficult if they do not understand what you are doing with your life. You need to understand that you can not change them anymore then they can change you. Nor should you want them to change. It is best to come to some sort of compromise in regards to this. Such as, In the way that some families have agreed to never talk politics or religions. It is very important that you understand how relationships affect your energy flows. It is also important you understand your relationships. This exercise is designed to help you rate your current relationships and to see them for what they are. After that it is up to u to decide what to do with them.
1: Make a list of your close personal relationships, this includes, but not excluded to spouse, children, parents, siblings, close friends, co-workers, boss, etc.
2: Check off the ones that raise doubt in your mind.
3: List the positive and negative features of this relationship---the ones you checked off.
4: Decide how you want to deal with them. Remember we are not telling you to end difficult relationships--just showing you how they effect you. Dicuss in e-group.
The Basic Truths of Shamanism
Basic Truth ONE All power comes from within.
Everything has power and all power is equal. Just the levels of which the person can control the power makes it look like some are stronger then others. Power comes from authenticty this means you must have faith or trust in your own authority/ability. In other words be confident. Read the shape of being in the Celtic Shaman (page 22).
Basic Truth TWO Everything is relative and connected.
In other words, cause and effect. You can not do anything with out it affecting something. Positive thoughts and energy have positive results. Negative thoughts and energy destroy positive results. Example: If u attempt to control a force of nature/spirit world. They will rebel nothing likes to be controled. Attempting to control the weather in your area may give you the results you wanted. But, someplace else on the planet the weather is not doing what it was suppose to do!. Because you changed it. You need to learn to work as an equal partner with all. Man, nature, and the spirits, all are connected for we all are all made of "star stuff"
Basic Truth THREE The world, all 3 of them, Upper, Middle, and lower (read about then on page 35-36 in Celtic shaman) is what you make it. This reflects upon your ability to use your power to understand that there no limits to what you can do. In other words the shaman that says I can do this is the one that can.
Basic Truth FOUR
Effectiveness is the yardstick of truth.
If you make it happen then it is the truth and just because you couldn’t make it happen doesn't mean that it can't happen. Just means you may not have found the right solution as of yet. Do not get down on yourself just because you have not yet accomplished something
The aspects of Balance. Their are 4 aspects of balance. These are mental,physical,emotional,and spiritual. You need to learn to live a balanced life. This means do not go over board in any area of your life for long periods of time. At times tunnel vision can be asset, but only for the duration of the need. You need not only to learn how to be balanced, but how to balance those you are healing. Shamans heal all aspects of the individual.
The mental is how we process energy. Shamans need to understand how the person intakes information and how certain information effects the person. Criticize someone too much and all they hear is that they are a failure. Tell them that they are doing better because of the results you see, and they will assist you in helping themselves heal even faster.
The physical. Reflects how we take care of ourselves. Do not take any of the following personal. For I have no way of knowing if any of what I am about to say resembles you in any way, these are generalizations to make a point. If someone drinks or does drugs all the time they show very little regard for their health and for those who care about them. Same goes with those who smoke or eat too much etc. A healthy body allows the Shaman the strength to journey. You may be thinking I journey with my mind, which is true, but all is connected-- everything effects everything. Takes a lot out of a person to heal. Think about it.
Emotional Is how we react to others. We all let others effect how we react, though we are the ones in control of how we react. First impressions are a good example: most know right away if they like someone or not. But what most don’t think about is why don’t we like them? Need to look at the why's. You will usually see yourself in there someplace.
Spiritual Is the understanding that the soul/spirit has needs as strong as the rest of your other aspects. Spirituality is living in harmony with the 4 points of the medicine wheel, which represents your physical life, as well as your spirirts life. It is balancing the whole. besides being your soul is also your need to fulfill a basic human need believing in something greater than us. It also everything we believe without any labels. Please discuus in e-group
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