Oxygen Mask Required?

9d615800-7c7a-4ec4-acc9-8f6f2ae802cb-pngHere is the first step into my next year. I’m continuing to blog. I feel that the times are rather challenging at the moment so my blog is a necessary blast of oxygen that helps me get through the turbulence.

I’ve had several conversations recently about an ‘out of sorts’ feeling that seems to affecting many of us. Knowing that the energy is shifting is one thing. I find dealing with the actual shift something else. Noticing my general muddled headedness I’ve been trying to be kind to myself and not push too hard to get anywhere with anything. I’ve also been very aware of a general level of shadow side thoughts and feelings that I’ve been expressing. And so have many other people. This clearing out is good. It gives me room to breathe in the oxygen of positivity. My Guides have always encouraged me to be more aware of myself. Because then I can choose what energy I radiate out into the world.

It’s the same for every one of us. We are tripping up over our own shadow and the energy we have put out there at some time in the past. That’s why the apparently resolved issues are cropping up again. It’s time for all of us to find a new way of being ourselves. Whenever I think about this process my Guides are really good at giving me a mental prompt to help me. It was their energy that got me to pay attention on a flight to the words in the safety demonstration. The airplane is pressurised so if anything compromises the seal oxygen escapes into the sky. At the point when the cabin looses pressure the oxygen masks drop out of the storage compartment. The instruction is to put your own mask on before you help others to put theirs on.

It makes perfect sense really. Oxygen is what keeps us alive. But there is a limited time we can hold our breath for.

So we need the masks. But if your are struggling to get a mask on someone else you are depleting your own energy. If you get your mask in place you can breathe the oxygen whilst helping all those around you who can’t breathe yet. So being kind to me is about putting my own mask on first. Then I can help by being kind to others. Of course, someone gasping to breathe might not agree with my choice. I actually know what that feels like since I have asthma. Yet the worst thing is if anyone panics for me. The more calm I and they stay the sooner I can draw a breath again.

It’s about choice and what the greater good should be. I know that when I consider my own oxygen mask I realised that sometime I put the mask on, sit back and say well, I’m ok. Sometimes I put my mask on then run up and down the plane choosing who ‘deserves’ my help. Sometimes I do the best thing . I put the mask on and start helping anyone within reach so they can help others too. Yet there will still be people struggling to breathe who might feel upset that I haven’t chosen them. The reason I try to help those around me is that when they have their oxygen mask on they can also help. Together we can make sure the whole plane has the energy to survive.

It’s that kind of time at the moment. The world is on a flight towards a greater understanding of how we connect intuitively to one another.

The energy blasts, including the two in December, are the releasing of pressure in the cabin. Eventually we will be flying smoothly again when the pressure is rebalanced. But in the meantime we have to be ready to share the energy of survival. The oxygen we need is positivity. I am working hard to stay in the optimistic flow of energy. I want to see a changed and better world so I live at the moment with that vision in my mind. No matter what surfaces I believe that human beings all have the capacity for compassion and love.

If I hold onto that I am giving myself pure oxygen that can lift my spirits and get me over the hurdles. Of course there will be those who try to pass along their fears or negativity. Some of the people who are too far away for me to reach their oxygen masks might be upset. Or unhappy that they have to wait for help. Perhaps they may even decide they aren’t going to help themselves. In a very real and practical way I have to accept that I’m not there to rescue the whole plane. No one is. We start with ourselves and then help how and where we can.

When I think of the times I rushed around the plane trying to help or sat back concentrating on only being ok myself I recognise another strand to this.

Sometimes I grab my oxygen mask or someone else’s because I’m looking to be a hero. I’m doing it because I want approval or praise. The fear of disapproval is a strong urge in all of us. Being authentic and true to self may attract adverse reactions from others. Especially where our choices and actions are described by others as selfish. There is a fear and judgement that keeps us being ‘nice’ in the wrong kind of way. I know that a bit of me wants to help so that I get a reward. It’s the bit of my ego that can trip me up by making my service to others a self-seeking exercise. But I know this shadow really well.

Now is the time to shift that energy out of my life. Because the oxygen of compassion and love can help me to change for the better. I know that service is actually it’s own reward. Most of the time that is how I choose to do what I do. Knowing that I still have a way to go doesn’t disappoint me. I am living my life as authentically as I can for this point in my life. I am sure that there is plenty of room for improvement. No wonder that I am going to grab all the change energy that is around at the moment. Life is about change. Life is about loving myself enough to change. And if I change then an optimistic life of service to others will be all the reward I need.

Day 366 of my blogging challenge.

The Selfish Balance: Giving and Receiving

img_2336In several conversations today I’ve found myself discussing the balance between giving and receiving. Often we find it much more easy to give. Is that because getting something for ourselves is selfish?

One of the definitions I found for the word selfish is “(of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for other people; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.” It’s a powerful statement. Do I want act as a person who doesn’t think about others. How will I know if I do? Or should I make sure that everything I do is for the benefit of others? What if there are so many people wanting  me to do things that I can’t do them all? I know that all my life I have been trying to solve this conundrum. How do I balance my needs with the needs of others. And what do I do if they don’t agree with what I can give them?

Or what about when I feel it’s my turn to receive back what I have given? Perhaps not even directly. But when is it ok to take instead of give? If I’m not careful I could drift into victim or martyr mode. Then my ability to give would be very much hampered by my reluctance to do so. Balance is surely about being able to give what you can freely and without a need to collect a reward. But then so is receiving. I would hope to receive freely and without the need to give a reward. In a system that balanced up in energy terms – a closed system – what goes around would surely come back around.

Perhaps that is at the heart of this issue. It’s not exactly a closed system.

There are people who pull the giving energy towards themselves. Are they being selfish? I don’t really know any more. I think that word has come to mean something judgemental and harsh. We do need to be open to helping one another. However, I also feel that we need to recognise when a hand up has been taken as a hand out. Of course I find it hard to stop giving. Most of us do. Yet are the people we are giving to passing on the giving energy? Today I weaved through a conversation where guilt also entered the equation. It’s so easy to say that someone is not giving enough or at all. To ignore all the energy that has been expended.

With this mindset it’s much easier to say it is the fault of the person doing the giving. I know in my past I have looked at what I have been given in this way. Now I also recognise that some of the time I was wrong. Some of the time I was expecting the other person to rescue me. Or protect me. Even to come along and make my life both easy and perfect. Of course that never happened. What I didn’t see was that I had passed off the responsibility for my life to other people. When they got tired of giving I was back where I started. I believe that has been one of my biggest lessons in my spiritual growth.

Looking at myself as honestly as possible I explored what being selfish meant. I acknowledged that I needed to find the balancing point.

Those I choose to give to might not agree. I accept that. They may still want me to continue the energy hand-outs. I know I have to help them, perhaps by withdrawing my energy, to be self-sufficient. After all, that is what we aim for all of our lives. Because when I am responsible for myself I can give far more. I can give time, love, energy to myself so that I am also energised enough to give the same to others. That is the balancing trick. To let myself be on the receiving end of what I am able to give. Able to put my needs into the equation too. To reject the definitions of selfishness that are imposed by others. And finally, to seek out all the ways I can receive and give for the benefit of everyone, myself included.

Day 363 of my blogging challenge.