The Cleansing Eclipses

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Nancy Furst

I’ve been incubating after a recent move, so thank you for your patience in awaiting this blog!  It’s just in time to tell you about the powerful eclipse zone that began with a full moon lunar eclipse in Scorpio April 25 (did you notice some heightened emotions?) to be followed by a new moon solar eclipse in Taurus May 9, with yet another full moon lunar eclipse May 24/25 (depending on your time zone in the U.S.), in Sagittarius.

In astrology, eclipses are harbingers of change, designed to catapult us beyond our current limitations by bringing to the forefront what which needs to be faced in order to grow.  They always occur two weeks apart, offering a brief period for integration and recalibration, but one has to work quickly and diligently within these great forces to realize the heights of their offering.  By June 1, the reverberations will begin to settle.

Given that the Universe is the ultimate expert on growth, this period deserves our deepest reflection and willingness to respond.  We are not just being handed a gift, we are being asked to participate so that our resistance will not continue to suffocate us, personally or globally.  Denial and resistance cannot be maintained without great conflict during an eclipse period.  I wouldn’t even try!

Instead, look for the opportunities to make positive changes of all kinds.  The areas of your own dissatisfaction will clearly point to where you can apply yourself, as well as the reflection from others of any pain you’re causing through your actions or non-action.  Don’t let your procrastination or judgment deny you the results that will benefit us all.  We CAN change, we CAN improve, and we CAN transform the human experience.  If you’ve ever wondered what your purpose is, it’s nothing less than to heal the world through love in action – and the eclipses are asking you to engage now, not later.

During this period, apply your spiritual practices of meditation, prayer, visualization, or chanting.  Listen to your inner wisdom, follow your intuition, and offer your willingness to be an instrument for higher good.  Pray for the help you need to heal and transform, and pray for the healing and transformation the world needs.  Use ceremonies and rituals to support our cyclical movement forward, for they bless us all.

If you’re on track in your life, you’re already noticing significant changes occurring from your efforts.  And if you’re not, it’s never too late.  We can choose again in every single moment.  Any choice you make to be in higher thought and take higher action, will engage the cosmic energies in assisting you.  And any act born of genuine love, has the power to unravel lifetimes of suffering.

Through our willingness and conscious participation, we can utilize the intentional momentum of the eclipses and make gargantuan leaps over the old hurdles of our progress toward unity.  Be unfathomably generous with others now.  Be unfathomably generous, and the Universe will respond in kind.

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My Top Favorite Tools to Stay Connected

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Nancy Furst

I’ve been getting so many requests lately about tools for staying connected (spiritually and within), that I thought I’d share my current top favorites:

Pema Chodron cd’s and books

Pema Chodron is a Buddhist nun and reknowned spiritual teacher whose materials are insanely helpful for…well…insanity!

Getting Unstuck – how to get unhooked from the shenpa’s, or triggers in our lives (mostly caused by other people, especially our relatives!)

From Fear to Fearlessness – overcoming fear and living in present moment consciousness

This Moment is Your Perfect Teacher – how to use any experience for inner growth and transformation

Smile at Fear – transforming fear, maintaining self awareness in the midst of fear

All of her material offers very practical Buddhist techniques that can be easily and instantly applied, and anything you find by her will be worthwhile.

Marianne Williamson cd’s and books

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer on the Course in Miracles, a spiritual psychological training designed to move our consciousness from fear to love.  Many of you know that I attend Marianne’s weekly lectures in Los Angeles (marianne.com) as part of my own spiritual practice, and it’s a wonderful chance to be in like-minded community, while inspired by such a powerful woman whom Jean Houston says “never bores God”.

Some of her books are:

Return to Love – cliff notes for the Course in Miracles

The Law of Divine Compensation – on work, money & miracles

A Woman’s Worth – self explanatory

The Age of Miracles – embracing the new mid-life

A Course in Weight Loss – weight loss through spiritual principles

Meditations for a Miraculous Life – one of my favorite meditation cd’s

Meditation

Wayne Dyer’s book, Getting in the Gap, taught me what meditation is, and how to do it, many years ago.

For the past six years, I’ve been using a program called Holosync, which is a series of cd’s with a sound technology that creates the same patterns in the brain as deep meditation.  Using headphones with eyes closed, you listen to the sound of falling rain and soft gongs in the background.  The program progresses in graduated levels as you adapt, and you can also record your own subliminal affirmations onto the cd’s, which is extremely helpful for moving beyond conditioned patterns of thought and behavior.  Each level costs around $200, and you can order it or learn more at centerpointe.com.  Just ignore the awful sales hype.  This tool has been invaluable for me and I use it daily.  (I also get referral credits, so if you purchase it, let me know.)

Other Favorite Authors

Eckhart Tolle (Power of Now)

Don Miguel Ruiz (Four Agreements, Mastery of Love)

Mandalas

And for extraordinary visual meditation, visit vikkireedwatercolors.com and click “gallery” and “mandalas” to see one of my client’s beautiful artistry.

Well, I went a bit longer than anticipated, but I hope this is helpful.  And, of course, there is always the most useful tool of having a reading with a fabulous spiritual counselor, so I’m always delighted to support you!  Let me know some of your favorite tools and I’ll be happy to include them in an upcoming blog.

Happiness and Blessings,

Nancy

 

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Transforming Our Needs

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Nancy Furst

A friend of mine is going through a painful breakup, and though he is clearly aware of the wisdom of his choice, the absence of his partner initially brought up strong waves of emotional and physical neediness that was hard for him to deal with.

I’ve certainly experienced this myself, and it’s most overwhelming when it triggers and reflects a lack we’ve been enduring in a repetitious manner through the whole of our lives.  When that occurs, it’s a clear indicator of what we have not yet learned to heal and transform.

Any neglect or abuse we suffer in our early development, imprints our minds with distorted patterns of thought about ourselves and the world we live in.  These beliefs serve to insidiously perpetuate the original lack or experience of abuse, until we learn we are capable of creating and receiving what we need to thrive.

Whether it’s an internal emotional need, or an external material need, it’s only because we’ve come to believe we are separate from what we desire, that we suffer.  Perhaps we believe we’re not capable of creating something we need materially, or there is some reason we cannot have the relationship we are seeking.  Consequently, when our “lack radar” identifies someone or something that appears to offer what we’re desperate for, we grasp hungrily and hang on for dear life, as we have now deemed that person or situation our source of fulfillment.  Many people call this “having a relationship”, and yes, it is.  It’s a committed relationship to our weakness, based on fear.

Through boldly staring into our neediness (which can also be viewed through the demands and expectations we place on life and others), we can discover that it only exists because of disbelief – in ourselves and in life.  We don’t trust our Creator to support its creation, and we don’t recognize our value as the expression of its infinite potential.  Instead, we spend our lives looking outward for what constantly appears elusive, and we compete to get what we perceive exists in limited supply, with limited time to acquire it.  It’s a living hell that devalues everyone in the process.

If, rather, we confront our insanity by looking inward and cultivating the awareness and resource of our spiritual nature, we experience the extraordinary.  We experience transcendence.  My friend and I spoke about all the patterns of behavior he could identify to understand how he participated in winding up in the same place, once again, in relationship.  We traced his use of manipulation and control, to the fears generated from the original wounds of neglect he experienced.

Because he had the support and courage to face his behaviors, and the willingness to take responsibility for them, he was able to move to the next step.  He asked God to lift him out of the darkness and place him in the light of consciousness and love.  I’ve said it often:  it doesn’t matter what word you use (God/Spirit/Universe); it matters that you acknowledge and commune with the source of your creation, however you believe, and that you ask for help.  The nature of Spirit is not intrusive:  we have to pick up the phone and call; we have to put up the antennae to get the signal.  That’s what prayer and spiritual ceremony is for.

My friend followed his prayers with reading and listening to “higher mind” material, and he meditated.  It stopped the madness, and within two short days, he had been delivered safely and lovingly to higher ground.  As his process continues to unfold, he can return to his spiritual practice to stay open and expansive in mind, and tend honorably to the healing that accompanies such transformation.  He can move forward from wholeness and love; available to the miraculous flow of miracles that can now effectively come forth to reflect the true abundance in every aspect of his life.

Any repetitive form of significant loss or lack (inner or outer) deserves our mature consideration and reflection.  Only then do we learn what part we’ve played, what illusions have snared us, and how we can change.  My dear friend demonstrated when we are willing to stand in the light of consciousness with compassion for ourselves and others, and we ask for the help to do so, all manner of support is activated in the Universe to rush to our aid and fulfill our healing and transformation.

We are returned to our limitless nature in full capacity, where our needs have already been met, and our dreams have the potential to be realized through our true ability as co-creators in this amazing world on this beautiful planet, all of which exists to support and love us.

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Creating a New Structure of Support

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Nancy Furst

I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been cultivating the ability to let go.  The experiences in this year almost passed, have so boldly revealed our individual and collective dysfunction, that it’s become impossible for even the most hardened of mind and heart to ignore.  Denial is out, and confrontation with compassion, is in.

Even though there are still many places (in ourselves and in the world), where the dysfunction is rampant and destruction is high, we are moving forward as One.  We are learning to be more present and responsive to one another as our motivation to change continues to grow.  We find that whenever we do stay present, open, and willing to see, a clarity emerges to enlighten our way, and we are given the support we ask for.

Just as our administration in the United States is striving to create a new structure of support for our economic health within a dysfunctional system, we are spiritually called to create a new internal structure based on love, to support a monumental shift of  consciousness in humanity.

In this great flux of our human journey, as we collectively reflect on our past this New Year’s Eve, and look to the future we’d like to realize in the year ahead, we can determine how to do that with an individual consideration of the following:

What spiritual support will nourish my connection to the infinite Source I come from (who some call God), and help me realize my limitless nature?

What support can I create for my mind to be clear and capable of sustaining higher consciousness?

Given my experiences and relationships, what structure of support will encourage my emotional maturity and wholeness?

What support structure can I create for my physical body to return to, or maintain, its optimum health?

What tapestry of support can I weave for my talents to flourish and my gifts to be shared, that I might enhance world community?

If we inquire collectively, we would simply ask, “How can we create from love instead of fear, and how can I support that shift in consciousness?”.

Whatever new structure of support we create for ourselves that helps sustain the growth we have achieved and continue to strive for, will be a shared blueprint of new support for humanity’s growth.  Each of our gifts, ideas, talents, truth, and vision, are a needed contribution and no offering is unworthy or insignificant.

As a new year opens a new door, I hope you will join me in taking some time to consider the structures of support we can create to ensure our transcendence beyond the conditioning that has imprisoned our possibility.  We can rise to the glorious occasion of this New Year, and we can love our way through the changes it brings.  It may take courage, patience, and practice, but the transformation that liberates suffering is the possibility in us all.

Thank you so much for sharing the first year of my blog!  I wish you a joyful 2013, filled with love and promise, and I look forward to hearing from you.

 

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The Center Place of Stillness

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Nancy Furst

I hadn’t planned to write today, but the larger forces brewing compelled me to stop and send this message.  In the eye of a tornado, is a place of calm.  At the bottom of a churning sea, there is stillness.  Within us all, is a centering place of peace, where turbulence cannot be felt.

I groggily emerged from my bedroom this morning from intense dreams that lingered around me like a fog, was immediately presented with a mauled hawk wing (a sacred and irreplaceable tool in my work) that my roommate’s cat had found despite my efforts to conceal it, received a last minute cancellation from the client I had prepared the space for that was the reason the wing was there in the first place, and erupted in reactive anger at a perfect-storm-moment, when all of the above transpired simultaneously and the words “they’re just being cats” triggered me.

After a few moments behind closed doors, I witnessed an uncannily speedy assessment process unfold as soon as I sat down and had one second of willingness to release the anger.  Seemingly separated parts of myself began quickly calculating:  “I’m angry, I don’t want to be angry, I have a reason to be angry, blame blame blame, shit…, please help me, what would You have me do?”

Within seconds, I heard the instruction to forgive, and I responded.  I forgave myself, and I forgave those involved.  I went to my housemate to apologize for my behavior, and listened as she explained her own trigger reaction.  We hugged, acknowledged that we never intended to hurt one another, and I made us lattes.

In all of five to ten minutes, the tornado had passed.  Shortly after, I heard from several clients and friends that they were also experiencing unstable emotions; were reactive and having difficulty getting grounded and finding a focus. It brought to mind the intense experiences we are collectively sharing – such as the recent mass murdering of innocent children in an elementary school – and the sharpened awareness that we are in times of planetary movement and energetic momentum that are greatly affecting us all.

I take heart knowing that my dedication to a spiritual practice afforded me the ability to more quickly eliminate the discord I was generating today, and I offer it as a reminder that we each have that power.  Everything taking place in our lives, from the seemingly insignificant to the more obviously meaningful, offers the chance to escalate the darkness or reach for the light of consciousness to embody another choice; a higher choice; a choice of unity born of love and forgiveness.

We are days away from Winter Solstice, December 21, 2012….. a day of planetary and galactic alignment that can be the threshold place.  The eye of the storm where, from our centering place of stillness, we determine whether we will continue to be part of the destructive forces of life, or part of a peaceful, harmonious world of possibility.  What a profound opportunity we have to consider, and what a powerful choice we have to make!

May we have the courage and intelligence to use every portal offered, to make the choices that bless the world and bring forth the miracles this holiday season is all about.

Blessings and Gratitude to you All,

Nancy

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The Spiritual Power of December 2012

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Nancy Furst

What an abundance of opportunities we have this month, given the heightened stimulation of the holidays with their many triggers, and the projection of thought relating to the Mayan long count calendar coming to an end.  You don’t have to be a spiritual teacher to realize the impact upon us.  We’re all being pushed to look within, while our outer world seemingly collapses in one form or another.

As a spiritual counselor, I have the sacred privilege of sharing intimately with others and hearing their deepest reflections and experiences.  Everyone I work with, including myself, is facing circumstances that challenge our disbelief (and disconnection) in order to break through the illusion of limitation and realize the power of who we really are, that we may ultimately create from wholeness and unity, and liberate ourselves from suffering.

This is what I believe the changes at hand are about.  It’s a sober time for courageously using what is taking place to summon the courage to rise to the occasion, respond from our highest selves, and demonstrate who we can be.  Every situation we encounter is giving us that opportunity, and every response has a consequence.

If we choose to flow with the greater cosmic movement of transformation, we can use the closing cycle of this year to reach clarity about what no longer serves us; recognize what we are responsible for creating; and consciously align with the potential of change in our midst to cooperatively participate with its purpose.  There will be no limitation in how we are used to effect miracles.

If, instead, we continue to rail against something or someone; give in to our weakness with excuses and justification; and remain in the idea of our helplessness, we will succumb to the darker forces we are creating.  We are determining our soul’s karma and humanity’s course by our thoughts and choices every single day, and with the cosmic forces gathering a clearly recognized momentum to effect the world, it’s no small thing to consider.

This month represents the possibility of reaching what some call, Christ consciousness, or enlightenment.  It can be a holy time, or a time of wasteful stress from material emphasis.  No matter what you are doing, where you will be, what or whom you do or don’t have…. you have an inherent power to transcend and transform.  How you choose to shine your light and offer your love will be felt by all, and the difference you can make in any given moment can change lives.  It’s time to commit.

I pray this month, that you are abundantly blessed with whatever support you need to realize your potential and help create our collective dream of love.  And may you know how deeply grateful I am for your presence in my life.  For those reading this blog for the first time, and those who have supported me and allowed me to support them, I thank you.  You have taught and blessed me well.  I celebrate our remarkable journey together with great joy and profound gratitude.

May happiness and peace prevail for you and your loved ones this holiday season, and may miracles abound through us all!

Love, Nancy

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Post-Election Notes

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Nancy Furst

I am so grateful for the privilege of voting in a national election yesterday in the United States, that exemplified the honor of how our democracy was created to be.  And I am deeply heartened to continue to have a president with global vision, who is carefully laying the foundation to restore both our spiritual, and economic, strengths.

As he said, we are the United States, and we have a chance to demonstrate the principle of our oneness as a nation and in the world.  Nothing less is good enough anymore.  Nothing less can sustain us.  And nothing less is worthy of who we are.

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Staying Above the Story

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Nancy Furst

In the midst of the devastating effects of “monster storm Sandy” and the uncertainty of our upcoming presidential election here in the United States (among our other challenges), we have two distinct options.  We can either engage at the level of the story, thereby escalating the drama and fear; or we can rise above the story, where we can remain alert and receptive to ideas sourced from a higher realm.  Rather than a disassociation, it’s a conscious move to a position of greater effectiveness.

After watching the news last night to glean the current state of affairs, I chose to spend an hour this morning in meditation before beginning the day.  A bit later, my housemate came downstairs with a troubling story about her business and some serious difficulties that had arisen.  Because I had meditated, I was able to observe my initial impulse to join her in the story and commiserate; hoping, of course, to assuage her pain.  Instead, that awareness gave pause to an intense desire to find a more meaningful response.

From the seeking born of love, and that oh-so-slight space of consciousness, came a transcendent offering.  I was utterly filled with a calm, internal knowing that we are safe within a self-correcting Universe, and her troubles were already being resolved.  With conviction, I could then align myself with that truth on her behalf, and hold it for her as I continued to offer my support by listening and loving her unconditionally.  This is the place where miracles are born.

As I continued the activities of the day, more ideas streamed in:  contact the people you know in the area of the storm – let them know you care for them and want to assist in any way you can; write this blog; remain in a prayerful and alert state of willingness to be used for the highest good.

While we continue to deal with personal and global traumas, fear does not have to prevail; we can have power over fear.  Not only can we develop our skills for dealing with any loss or form of crisis, we can achieve excellence in the process and realize miraculous solutions, by remaining present from the true state of our being.  So as we face the storms together, here are some suggestions for realizing your divine purpose and inherent capability:

Meditate so you can clear your mind and be available to Source/God.

Instead of calling or emailing someone to speak of the horrors of the situation, contact them in order to pray together.

Bring excellence to whatever you are responsible for in your own life this day.

Give something to someone; make a difference in someone’s life today.

Realize your capability to be love in action, and follow through with an idea.

Post angels everywhere they are needed, and then be one.

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Between Now and the Election

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Nancy Furst

It’s becoming more evident every day.  People are taking sides about the election and the increasing polarization is affecting the collective consciousness;  it’s angry out there!

I walk through my favorite neighborhood every evening, and the beautiful homes I’ve always admired are drawing quite a different response from me as I pass the political signs in the yards.  In seconds, my judgment races ahead of me and projects distasteful imaginings about the people inside.  Or else I find myself stopping to raise my arms in celebration and shriek an affirmative “Yes!” out loud.   And I’m a disciplined spiritual practitioner!

It doesn’t take a lot of awareness to recognize what our unchecked reactions are creating:  division, hostility, separation, and fear.  We’re strained and edgy, even while hopeful – and it’s not helping the economy we’re all so concerned about, our relationships to one another, or any other aspect of our well-being.

It took me several days of walking in that neighborhood to raise my consciousness.  I had to observe myself and carefully register the thoughts and emotions I was having.  How could this house look so different to me now because of this signpost?  Why would I want to condemn the people inside for thinking differently, even for a moment?  What was I afraid of?  If I was an alien who just landed on the planet, how would I be viewing these signs on a stick?

On the third day, my mind encountered enlightenment.  “Isn’t this lovely?  All these different houses with people who get to believe however they wish!  Aren’t we all so beautiful and precious, evolving in our own ways?”  I swear I wasn’t high.  And then I glimpsed the realization that the higher good of our country was held safely in the higher realms of consciousness, with full provision for this grand movement forward, to serve us all.  But let us help in this movement, and not hinder.

It’s the awareness of our thoughts, the recognition of their effect, and the willingness to see things differently that brings forth the shift of consciousness to put us in the realm of unlimited possibility for divine outcome.   Please join me between now and the election to cleanse our minds and hearts before we speak our truths, and embrace one another with love and respect, so that which is best for humanity can gracefully emerge.

In deepest gratitude,

Nancy

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Seeing the Light

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Nancy Furst

It seems like life has become a daily practice of concerted effort to see beyond the darkness, whether it’s personal or global challenges we’re facing.  We are being given so many opportunities to collapse or rise in any given day, that our heads should all be spinning.  But our spiritual purpose is to see the light, through and beyond the illusions and suffering we’ve created from our collectively trained minds.

Our suffering is evidenced when we feel anger, judgment, pain, hostility, or depression.  And it’s clearly seen on a global scale through disease, poverty, and our warring nations.  But this is not a time to give in to the helplessness we feel in any given day or moment.  This is a time to make a stand, have a voice, and be willing to see things differently.

We are, literally, the light of God embodied.  Call it Spirit, Universe, Buddha, Allah, or anything you wish, but it is the same source energy that reflects our true nature and perfection, and it is eternal and changeless.  The more we relate to ourselves from our spiritual identity, the closer we move to the possibility of Heaven on Earth.

A friend of mine, in her compassionate desire to console me when I’m struggling to overcome a limitation, will occasionally say, “But Nancy, you’re only human.”  And that’s the point:  we aren’t only human!  We are spiritual beings with infinite resource to overcome the limitations we’ve created from falsely claiming dominion over the physical plane and thus creating a world based on fear.  We can no longer afford to ignore our inherent potential to create from love and unleash the miracles that will heal the suffering.

As the light of God, we are given the power to love unconditionally, though our minds would tell us that’s the last thing we should be doing.  “What, become a doormat?”  “Give up being right?”  “Let go of your addictive personality?”  “Who do you think you are?”

Loving unconditionally would mean we are able to identify with ourselves as spiritual beings, and recognize everyone else in the same “light”.  We would exist in the awareness of our Oneness, with an inherent respect for all life and a willingness to forgive.  Rather than accepting destructive behaviors in ourselves or others, we would be free to create from love, not fear.  It is from this premise, and this premise only, that we can redefine our world, and bring forth solutions that free us to to be here as we were created to be: the light and love of God in glorious full expression; the same expression of exquisite beauty we see in Mother Earth every day, and in the Universe beyond Her.

Here are some powerful techniques and truths to remember when you cannot “see the light” in yourself or in another.  Some are derived from lectures by Marianne Williamson and the Course in Miracles, and some are my own inspiration:

Immediately upon waking in the morning, direct your mind to the awareness to your Spirit.  Use your imagination to picture any image that reflects your Oneness with God and All That Is.  Yield the day to your Spirit, to God, and ask for the support you need to be its full expression.

Pray ahead the day.  Before engaging in mental or physical activity each day, pray for yourself, for everyone on your path that day, and for the world.  Let your heart reveal what you are called to pray for.

Whenever you catch yourself having unloving thoughts:  stop, close your eyes, and breathe.  Then say (to whomever you pray to):  “Dear God, I am not in my right mind.  I see that I am attacking myself and others with my thoughts.  Please help me.  I’m willing to see this differently.”  Then let go and let God.  You will receive the help you need to shift your perspective.

“You can have a grievance or a miracle, but you can’t have both.  Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.  All expressions of love are maximal.”  Course in Miracles

You are limitless in your capacity to love and you are needed for all of humanity, so put fear aside, and shine the light of your loving Spirit as brightly and generously as you can today!

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