Monday, November 8, 2010

Transmutation

While on vacation in North Carolina my husband and I spent a morning bicycling one of our favorite routes. It takes you along a rolling valley dotted with aging barns and vegetable gardens ending just across the border in Tennessee. We stop to refuel at a fireworks store which sits on the crest of a hill and has a convenient stoop for pausing. Gulping Gatorade, we rest our Floridian legs, unaccustomed to the hilly terrain. While standing by the stoop I happened to look down at the wooden newel post and there sat the most stunning, sparkling, furry moth.  She was spectacular in color and at least 4 inches long. After admiring her golden brown and speckled beauty I began thinking about the process butterflies and moths go through in order to become the glorious animals they are. They experience a transmutation.

Webster defines transmuting: to change or alter in form, appearance, or nature and especially to a higher form.

Transmutation is change from the inside out and each of us are in this very process changing and altering in order to express a higher form of consciousness and a higher form of love. We are all moving toward becoming the expression of pure and infinite love and the process begins in the same place most of our changes do--with our thoughts.

Transmuting develops wisdom which in turn releases fear. Releasing fear can be a conscious decision. Today our minds do not fret over the monster in the closet as it may have when we were five years old. As adults we experience anxiety and trepidation through other thoughts that often spring from the same imaginative thinking. Can you remember a time in your life when you dreaded the future because you "knew" how it would unfold? Do you recall that as you focused on the fear-based thoughts you experienced their negativity viscerally? Our bodies respond to thoughts of  dread and worry physiologically supporting our minds in believing the "truth" of our fearful interpretations.

Attaching yourself to thoughts of love and devotion, understanding and patience alters you. When you think loving thoughts you simply do your body and soul good. As we become more aware of the thoughts we empower we give ourselves the glorious option to choose an alternative.  We can opt to cultivate thoughts that allow for love and confidence to emerge and peace and happiness to flourish. In doing so we are transmuting and ultimately will emanate the changes outward.

Ted Andrews describes butterfly energy in his book Animal Speak as "transmutation and the dance of joy." Next time your mind grips you with negativity and you feel yourself collapsing into fear stop for a moment. Look for a different mind map to follow, an alternative path to a new conclusion. Even better, seek no conclusion at all and stand confidently in "not knowing" allowing life to present you with dozens more brilliant options empowered by love and infused with the Divine. Let your butterfly wings unfold and  joy spring from your heart creating the world you seek from the thoughts you think, changing and altering from inside out.

Love and Light,
Nora

I consciously nurture loving thoughts.

A Little Life Lesson


A few weeks ago I was sitting in the airport waiting to board a plane to New Hampshire to attend my niece's wedding. I sat casually observing the hubub of travelers as an elderly couple approached and eased themselves into the row of seats beside me. I watched as the old man leaned past his wife toward a man sporting a Boston Red Sox cap and causally remarked, "How about those Sox?"  The other man said nothing. He completely ignored this offer of camaraderie and left the elderly gentleman to simply lean back and contemplate the back of his hands.

I felt so bad for the old fellow. I wondered if he felt snubbed. My mind raced into stories about the snobby man hiding behind his newspaper, so smug that he wouldn't even give an old man a few seconds of his time. My heart felt so sad for the old man who I considered to be at least 88. He was vigorous once! People used to listen to him once! Or so I imagined.

We began to be called to board the plane and I glanced up as the snobby man gathered his belongings to start toward the check-in.

Oops... humbled again!

Suddenly I saw something that I did not notice before. The man was wearing two big hearing aids. He had not heard the old man and his offer of support for the Red Sox over the din of announcements and bad acoustics. He had not heard a sound. As he stood he nodded toward the elderly couple and smiled sweetly.

Sometimes even what we think we see with our own two eyes is not the reality of a situation. Next time I am jumping to conclusions I promise to give myself an opportunity to observe life through a kinder, less judgmental lens so that I may develop the ability to truly wait in order to really see.

I release myself from the need to interpret my world from the vantage point of its lack and failings. I embrace a new vision of life which is generous, loving and focused on the good.