Category: English

The conversations of L & Y -1

by Maja Raaen Hisdal, posted in English

Deep in the woods there are two individuals sitting between the trees and discussing matters of the universe. Let us call them L and Y. We sneak up to listen to them and sit down quietly behind a big rock where they cannot be disturbed by us.

L: what is good?
Y: Whatever you think is good using your inner compass. (Y points to the chest)
L: But does that compass have a common nominator for all people?
Y: No, it does not, as good and bad are illusive categories. They are man-made and have no origion in the universe. They change within every culture. They do not stand the test of time. The borders of the categories are like jelly. They can encompass everything and nothing.
L: But how can that be? Surely there are actions that all will deem to be good or bad on the extreme end of the spectrum.
Y: No, not if you want agrement across the world and not if you want honesty. Good and bad becomes mere opinions based on time and place.
L: But how will one have any guideslines for behaviour then?
Y: Use your inner compass. (Y laughs)
L: But how do I know that my compass is right?
Y: It is your compass. Don`t you trust yourself?
L: No.
Y: Then that is your problem. Knowing yourself is enlightenment.
L: Should one follow all impulses from the compass? Even bad ones?
Y: Bad is whatever your compass tells you it is. If your soul wants to learn about prison it cannot resist breaking the law and going to jail. Is this bad? Should we eradicate bad from the world?
L: Compass says yes.
Y: (Y laughs) You do not carry a universal compass, only a personal one. Alas, you can not make decisions for humankind, only for yourself.
L: Then what if I want to choose bad?
Y: Then you learn the qualities and consequences of that decision you call bad. You consider if this is serving you or not.
L: But is it all about serving me? Y: You are the center of your space in an immense network of connections. You will go blind if you consider the needs of all the people connected to you. How will you choose whose needs to meet? What if they are opposing not only to your own but someone else in the network. Besides if you choose based on someone else you will fail, as you cannot know the outcome of your action no matter the intention. So, you focus on your compass and choose for yourself. Then what you radiate out is decicion from your core.
L: What if I want to choose good but fail?
Y: Good is whatever the compass inside you says.
L: Surely that is not the case. I refuse to believe it is that relative.
Y: Stop naming it good and bad. There are forces in the universe. Forces of light and darkness. They make a whole. They complement each other. The power of one will bring out the power in the other. In this whole they keep supporting each other, opposing each other, challenging each other in eternal development.
L:But surely one is good and the other bad.
Y: (has to breathe deeply and find the inner compass) No. They hold different qualities that complement each other. Everyone gets to choose between light and dark. You choose every day. You can choose light today even if you have choosen darkness yesterday. You hold the power over your own destiny and create it for yourself.
L: But is there ever a time when choosing darkness is preferable?
Y: That depends on your soul. You experience anxiety and when you had enough you fight through it and refuse to let it control you. Now you understand anxiety and know the power required to overcome it. You go from dark to light. Or you yell at others when you feel bad. Eventually, in this life or another, you figure out that yelling makes you feel worse. You will start looking for different solutions because of this understanding. Or you can experience deep injustice and that will give you a choice of either continuing the pattern yourself or fight it. A lot of lessons in the light requires the understanding of the darkness. Darkness need the opposing light.
L: It needs a lot strenght.
Y: Yes. The forces are strong within each, but you can guide your own actions. You have the power to stear the impulses from these forces. They each hold challenges and they each hold rewards.
L: But how can they not be named good and bad?
Y: Those categories are locking you into a reality and stopping you from seeing things from a wider perspective. You hold on to them because you do not trust yourself and your compass. You look outside yourself for guidance. Choosing between light or darkness is different than choosing between good or bad. You might intuitively feel the difference. There is a deeper understanding in us of light and darkness. It allows for a blending. The light in the dark. The dark in the light.
L: How can I trust my inner compass to make the right decisions?
Y: In the end you will have to. Your soul needs you to. If you choose based on an idea of a common compass you will not develop your own. Your soul wants to expand, learn and try, and the life lived will develop your compass.
L: And then you die.
Y: No, then you carry it to the next lifetime.

Y jumps up into a tree and puts his headphones on. He holds up his ipod to show L, who understands that enough has been said for now.

Following your heart

by Maja Raaen Hisdal, posted in English

Following your heart

It`s not supposed to be easy.

So picture this, your heart has a mind of its own. That mind may be different from or the same as the mind upstairs, but still it has a mind of its own and it has it`s own opinions and desires. Clearly there is a agreement in the world that following your heart is a good thing, it`s applauded and seldom do you hear anyone complaining about having followed their hearts. Why is it still so hard and why don`t more people do it?

The heart has it`s own logic, you see, it doesn`t care about your doubts, your fears, the lines that have been drawn up around you and that you are dutifully within. The heart does not consider what your parents want, what you neighbor want, or what people might say about you. The heart does not go into possible catastrophic consequences of your future, it has no doubts about your capabilities, it knows, your heart knows the direction, knows what you need, it knows your souls desire and it cares about you being happy and living a fulfilling life that will leave your heart pumping healthy and unrestricted for a very long time. Your heart wants to dance and it has its eyes on the price.

Then we have the mind upstairs, which when it works together with the hearts mind, is a great partner and resource to getting those plans going, to steering your life in the direction that is perfect for you. They can be amazing dance partners those two, but then again, the mind upstairs might decide to go dancing with others instead, fear, anxiety, doubt, it might decide to leave the heart as a wall flower that never gets a chance, or kick the heart out of the room altogether, closing the door, and returning to its other partners. In that case, the results aren`t great and not very fulfilling, at least not as far as the heart is concerned. Now the heart might knock on the door, look through the window, panic when it sees the decisions your upstairs mind is making with its other partners, and you feel this heavy heart beat in your body, you feel the tightness in your chest, you feel the nausea and the uncomfortable feeling in your body, but you don`t understand it, because the door is locked and your hearts communication becomes a unrealistic dream.

Most people have experienced this separation from the heart, the silencing of its voice, the hard belief that the upstairs mind is the only one that should be able to make decisions, never seeing who its partners are. “Be realistic, that will never work, you can`t do that, it`s too big of a risk, you need to have control, you better choose the safe option” All whispers of its fearful dance partners and the upstairs mind listens, thinking it is better, must be better, than what the heart has to say.

Following your heart means allowing your heart to get back on the dance floor, to let go of the others and return to what can be a perfect partnership, and it is hard, because those other voices have kept you safe, they have kept you walking within the boundaries set up for you, and you might not be happy, but you have control, you might not be living, but you are playing by the rules and it is working. Now, the heart challenges you, it wants to take risks, it wants to see what you can do, it wants you to be weird and dancing, and laughing, it wants you to live and learn, and open up more of your capabilities, it`s saying life is short and you should take your chances, go for it, trust your intuition and be the most you can be. The heart is going against all those other dance partners, and the fear protests loudly in your ears, the anxiety forces your body to freeze, the doubt worries about disasters. They all agree, it will fall to pieces, you will fall to pieces and everyone will laugh, you can`t do it, better not try.

Will you still give your heart a chance?

It is waiting impatiently for you to stop and see the true faces of your advisors, the old unnecessary  restrictions, the old outdated authorities.

Following your heart means that you make a choice to stop listening to these voices, and find the courage to surrender to your instincts and intuition instead. Imagine that dance, the upstairs rational mind working with intuition, heart and instinct. The limits of the world begins to fade away in that partnership.

Following your heart isn`t easy, but it wants you to be happy and living, so give it a chance, start listening again and let it back on the dance floor.

The art of sustaining a natural balance

by Maja Raaen Hisdal, posted in English

There is an art to keeping up a natural balance in yourself.

In the state of a balanced natural energy system you would give as much as you receive, and receive as much as you give. There would be a natural balance and circulation able to sustain itself, working with the universe, with people, with your own energy, with the world.

Now why is this so hard to achieve ?

Because of attitudes and inner belief systems creating energy that blocks your circulation. Yes, those that have a stronger pull on your actions than your natural balance. Say you have been giving, and your body and mind lets you know that it`s enough now, you need to have a rest and charge your batteries. Now listening to this would be sustaining your natural energy balance, you would rest, allow space, allow stillness, you would honor your bodies demand, you would honor your natural energetic boundaries, and it would be a good thing to do.

Now imagine you have some attitudes that tells you; you are here to serve other people, you have no right to rest, your need to rest is not important, you have to keep going until you are not able to physically move, you must give others what they want when they want it, you have no right to say no. And imagine that these are much stronger than the  voice of your body and the natural balance, leading you to ignore them, and push yourself to keep going, keep giving, empty yourself out, not being able to stop until you exhaust yourself. This is working against the natural balance. Everyone has a energy system with a natural balance, and I`ll say it again; exhausting yourself is working against the natural balance.

Now imagine that you did listen, and that you did rest, and that someone would respond to your energetic need to now receive. They would come to you with a gift, or some kind words, or maybe an offer to help you in some way.  This would be a natural occurrence in a healthy balanced system, and you would accept their offer, or their words, sustaining your own need to receive and their need to give. Or maybe when resting you would get an idea of someone who could help you and you would ask this person, and receive the help needed. All is well, everyone is in their flow, and balancing their own energy systems in a very natural way. If you saw energy, you could see how a wave comes in on the left side of the body, circulates, builds up and exits out in the world again from the right side, and then repeating in from the left. This would be a fully functional and sustainable system.

Now, imagine, that not only did you not listen to your body and kept giving above means, but also refused help from those who offered it. Your energy wants to receive, but there are again stronger attitudes saying; you don`t deserve to receive, you are weak, you are an inconvenience, you should be stronger, you are not worth anyones help, you will expose vulnerability and get used, you are not worthy. You turn down the hand that is offered to you, and cut of the natural energy stream that seeks to sustain itself, also stopping the natural flow of the person who wanted to give. Or you are in need of help, you know who could be of service, but you stop yourself from asking, stop the body from moving and the words from being uttered. Refusing the natural solution to your own need is also cutting of the energy flow.

If we see the energy in the body now, the right side is almost tipping over, exhausting the body of all resources, pumping out every last trace of energy and every time a new energy is built it gets sent right out again. While the left side is shut, locked, frozen and there is an amount of energy in the air next to the left side, that was supposed to enter the body and aid circulation, but this energy is refused, left hanging, wasted. How long can this energy system keep going?

There is also the opposite lack of balance, where a person is only able to receive but never able to give. Receiving in excess, serving attitudes like; I can`t manage anything for myself, I need help to live my life, I have no power, I`m not able to make decisions, I`m not able to be responsible for my life. And not being able to give anything at all, with attitudes saying; I have nothing to give others, I don`t know anything, everything I say is wrong, I`m not worthy to give, I have nothing of value. If we see the energy picture here, there is excess amount coming in through the left side, overflowing the body, but never getting circulated and sent out again, instead weighing down the body, weighing down the mind.

How long can the body, the person and the soul keep this up? And why should it be in this unnatural state?

Everyone has their own story about why and how these attitudes were formed, the experiences that caused these attitudes to sound like truths, and it`s hard to change what you perceive to be true about yourself and the world. But it`s not impossible. First figure out what attitudes you are walking around with and then start the process of convincing yourself that these don`t have to be your truths. They are attitudes, crossing each other, contradicting each other, in every person walking around, they are different. These attitudes are not universal truths about you. They are attitudes. Formed, given, maybe even knocked into you. But they are not universal truths. Someone made you feel this way. This is not the natural balance of your body, your mind and your soul. Someone made you feel this way.

And you can change it. You can say enough. You can see if you really want the people who made you feel this to function as authorities in your life. You can consider if you really think they themselves did such a great job with their lives that you want to let them keep influencing the way you live. You can see if you need new people in your life who can confirm alternative truths about the world for you. You can see what attitudes are present if you refuse help or if you contact someone for your every little decision. And you can choose better attitudes, repeat them, meditate on them, hang them up, paint them out, reflect on them, write about them, get them back into your system.

You deserve to have a healthy balanced system, to give as much as you receive, rest when you need to, act when compelled to. There are no universal truths saying that you are the exception to this. You are not.

This is a natural state. Look around you in nature, see this natural order everywhere, and realize that you are also a part of nature, a part of this system.

Find your way back to a natural, balanced energy system. Let`s all do it. It will function perfectly.

Energy work

by Maja Raaen Hisdal, posted in English

Energy work

Let me tell you about energy work! If you ever done this, you know how challenging it can be! So what is energy work? Well, if you see yourself, your body, your mind, your thoughts and feelings, as living, changing shifting energy, vibrating on a certain frequency, then energy work is making sure that this system functions on it`s optimal level, like a radio, you have to find the right position to get a clear sound through. If the system runs smoothly, it flows in a healthy body, with uplifting thoughts and solution oriented perspective, it`s like beautiful waves that can pass unhindered through your body, from top to toe, while a system that doesn`t work will have obstacles for those waves, things that have gotten stuck along the way, things the waves are trying to avoid, ignore, move around, maybe some waves have even stopped moving at all, and some may have completely cut the connection between the head and body, so the two parts have no idea what the other one is doing and all communication have stopped. This is where energy work is needed!

I have been working on my own energy for many years now, cultivating, releasing, cleaning up, untying knots, healing old patterns, just getting rid of all that old stuff that doesn`t serve me, all that I have been holding on to of others peoples stuff, all that I have adapted to, everything I ever changed about myself to fit in with my surroundings, every negative attitude I had about myself and the world. It is a lot of work, challenging, hard look in the mirror work. I mean years of conditioning, holding on to stuff that`s not even yours, maintaining attitudes that are unhealthy, world perspectives that are just not doing any good, there are so much to do once you open that door, but yes, there is also the freedom of looking at yourself and choosing which parts you want to consist of. Imagine that. You are free to raise yourself on your own, letting go of what`s been told to you, about you, and instead reconnecting with your nature, your feelings, your way of doing things, at looking at things, feeling the vulnerability and innocence you once had, being free and feeling real joy and laughter all the way down from your belly. Finding a genuine appreciation for yourself and the world. Being your own authority, always knowing what is best for yourself, checking in with a healthy and functioning energy.  There are many benefits, but the road is long, and there are steps to take, small progresses, day by day, changing in little ways, trying out the new, testing, accepting the bits that feels comfortable to you, daring to let go of what doesn`t. Have patience, for change isn`t easy and for you to be able to cope, it has to be slow, there is just no other way it can work.

You don`t open up this door unless something is clearly not working for you, when you are just fed up and ready to make a change, and when you get that feeling, when you get that urge to rise up and do things differently, then go for it! Ride that wave, see where it takes you!  The most important thing to be aware of is that there is always a different way of being, thinking, feeling, there is always the possibility of changing your ways and understanding more of who you are and why. Always! Believe in the possibilities, they are real! That other voice is just fear. I promise.

There is freedom in changing your inner world, and there is freedom in understanding your fears and anxieties, your doubts and worries, because once you understand, you can change. You can tell the fear circumstances have changed since your past, you can tell your body that you will listen to it`s pain and the reason behind it, you can ask your attitudes to let you know where they come from. And so you open up for change, nothing has to remain stuck, but the energy demands communication, it demands to be listened to, to be understood and finally explained why change is not only possible but desirable.

Working with your own energy can take a lot of forms, it can be through painting, through writing, meditation, energy healing, communing with nature, looking at the ocean, keeping a journal, through conversations with friends, through conversation with guides, there are so many ways to go about it, once you decide that enough is enough and that you are ready for change. Dance it out, ready to let go, ready to get closer to yourself in a brave way, in a Here I am world! -kind of way.

Energy work-completly worth the time and effort.

Are you ready to transform? Go for it! The power is all yours.