During my Advanced Passion Test Certification Training I was fortunate to spend some time with Michael Beckwith in some relatively intimate settings. Michael is an author and visionary, and Founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Southern California. This man is one of my heroes. Why? Because he is one of the most amazing, clear channels for Divine Wisdom I have ever seen. He knows how to put his "small self" in service to the Big Self and let the Big Self come on through him clearly and powerfully. If you ever have a chance to see Michael speak, definitely go!
Michael Beckwith is a wise man full of wisdom. But how do I KNOW that? How can any of us know real wisdom from plain old psycho-babble B.S.? The only way we can KNOW it, is because it's in US too. The reason anything Michael says makes sense and "rings true" for me is because I have that wisdom in me too. Michael will even say that. In fact, the best spiritual teachers will always say something like this at the beginning of their talks, "I am not going to tell you anything you don't already know. I am simply going to be the vehicle that re-minds you."
Here's a nice analogy for this: picture two guitars sitting next to each other. When you pluck a string on one guitar, the corresponding string on the other guitar will start to vibrate. It is "resonating" with the vibration that is "already in it" as potential. It is then "activated" by the external source. This is what happens when someone is giving voice to a truth or wisdom that already resides in us, but just needed a little "coaxing" to come into our consciousness.
Where does real wisdom reside and how we can learn to coax it into our awareness? If it's true that we and Great Spirit are one, then we need look no further than right here, right where we are, to tap into divine intelligence, wisdom and guidance.
In our western paradigm of living, we are accustomed to thinking of intelligence arising, or coming from, the head. Familiar terms like "Use your head" and "Get your head in the game," exemplify this way of thinking. However, what science has discovered in recent years is that intelligence actually exists all over the body - and that in fact there are neurons, similar to those in our brain, that exist in the heart and as well in the stomach. The new field of neuro-cardiology has called this bundle of neurons in the heart, "the heart-brain."
Studies have shown there is more communication going from the heart to the brain, than from the brain to the heart. The brain does not run the heart - in fact, in a fetus, the heart is formed and starts pumping before the brain is formed. And if you know anything about heart-transplants, you'll know that a heart removed from the body can continue to beat with no connection to the brain. There are also neurons in the gut - we're all familiar with "gut instinct" - but we haven't really understood it until now. So there is wisdom, insight, and intelligence we can access from other parts of ourselves. However, we have to pay attention, and this is the key.
There's an old saying "The longest journey a person will ever take is from their head to their heart." While it's only a foot or so in actual distance, why do you think it may be the longest journey a person will ever take? It's because the head wants to run the show. The head can be so dominant and loud with its fear-based warnings, worries and concerns that the subtle aspects of ourselves (like our heart-based messages) get drowned out. You just can't hear them. This is why the heart, or your deeper body-based wisdom, got the name "the still, small voice." It's quiet and unassuming, waiting for YOU to choose to hear it.
Think of the mind, or your head, as the manager, and think of your body, and especially your heart, as the leader and the visionary. Without a divinely sourced vision, the manager (or your head) is just spinning its wheels doing busy work. Your mind is there to serve your heart. However, most people are so in their head, and disconnected from their body-based wisdom, that their head is dysfunctionally running the show. This imbalance is the source of much of the suffering people experience in their day-to-day lives... and it does not have to be this way. This is why I became a Licensed HeartMath Provider. The HeartMath Institute has created the best path I have ever seen for bringing heart-based wisdom alive in life. It's a practice, and HeartMath has shown the way.
Through the heart you can access WISDOM, far beyond what your head alone can access. (In fact, I will go so far as to say that no true WISDOM arises from the head at all!). When living from the heart there is a tangible experience of being guided by and serving something far larger than your self (small "s"). This wisdom could be called God, Infinite Intelligence, Great Spirit, or Source. Ultimately it cannot be labeled. Nonetheless we can have a direct EXPERIENCE of it, through the heart, and ultimately through the entire body itself.
Try this:
Connect with your body and pay attention to the messages it has for you. You can start right now, right where you are by simply using your breath. The breath is an incredibly powerful instrument for cultivating awareness. Because of this, many spiritual traditions use the breath as a cornerstone in their practice.
Sitting comfortably in a chair, put your feet flat on the floor, place your hands on your lower abdomen, and breathe deeply, down into your abdomen, so that you can feel your hands moving outward as your lungs fill with air. While forward is the most obvious expansion, see if you can also feel your lungs and abdomen expanding downward toward your pelvic floor and sacrum, backwards into your lower back, and sideways into the lower part of your rib cage. Do this at least three times then notice how your experience of being alive changes. How does your body feel different from before doing this? Notice if your thoughts have changed, and perhaps your emotions, too. Have fun with this and do this simple practice throughout your days.
Your body is a wise and well informed teacher- literally the wisdom of the Universe resides inside. By consciously choosing and cultivating your practice of listening, you can bring this wisdom alive in your life for more peace, power, and Mojo!
Roger Kenneth Marsh is a Spiritual Life Coach & creator of the Major Good Mojo System. He has an engineering degree, MBA, is a Certified Life Coach, HeartMath® Provider, and Passion Test® Facilitator. Get his book "NexGen Human" on Amazon.com, and FREE CD "3 Keys to Major Good Mojo" at http://www.majorgoodmojo.com/free-cd
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