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On the Wings of a Butterfly

Andrea Avari Stevens, Ph.D.

It is has been said that the movement of a butterfly’s wings in one part of the world can contribute to the formation of a hurricane in another part of the world. How can this be? How can what I do where I live affect thousands of others in another part of the planet?

If this is so, then my responsibility for my actions increases exponentially. It means what I do an as an individual affects others whether I realize it or not. What if I wake up one day and understand that I do have a connection to all my sisters and brothers on this planet, that we are all One. That what I choose to think and the actions I take affect not only me and those around me, but the world….people and places with faces I have never seen.

If this possibility exists, then I need to choose my thoughts and actions carefully. I am sending gifts to unknown recipients. I want those gifts to be a source of help to all. I want the beating of my butterfly wings to bring thoughts of love, not fear, laughter not frowns, acceptance not intolerance, connection not division.

Sometimes there is a war inside of me. It grows less as I grow spiritually. But occasionally it still wages its violence and takes its toll on me. It is my challenge to release fear and know that the energy of love and compassion is all there truly is. I make up the fear; it doesn’t really exist. The battlefield of my mind connects with my body and sometimes I feel tired and drained. And then love finds an opening and sneaks onto the field turning the minefields into flowers and stopping the bullets in their path, dissolving them into light.

I will transform this conflict within me step by step by recognizing that love is my choice, not fear. And as I do this, my light will shine more brightly and my heart will emanate a beautiful energy to all around. As the energy spreads and joins with others of like mind on the planet, the inner peace quiets the outer conflict, washing over it in waves until the fear looks at the gun in its hand and says, no more.

It doesn’t matter the problem, I want to send a vibration of my wings over the airwaves to work with others to brighten the light for us all. I want my choices to foster multiplication not division. I want my butterfly wings to embrace with love, not beat the flames of fear.

My butterfly wings are your butterfly wings. There is no you or I. We are all the same wing, each beating in synchronicity, resonating with love and kindness because that is the essence of who we truly are. That is our choice in every moment. The beautiful butterfly is each and every one of us. When we move our wings as one, we can create a hurricane of light, filled with healing and compassion for us all.

Copyright 2008 Andrea Avari.

Andrea Avari Stevens, Ph.D. is an intuitive spiritual coach working with clients to balance and integrate wellness, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. She is the author of A Hit of Heaven: a soul’s journey through illusion. Andrea and her husband are writing their new book, Letters from 2 Lunatics in Love: creating soulful relationships which will be available at the end of the year.

Website: www.andreaavari.com Email: andrea@andreaavari.com.

The Mysterious Gift of Illness

Andrea Avari Stevens, Ph.D. 

Much has been written on the subject of illness as a pathway to finding a deeper spirituality but I have chosen not to read most of it.  I prefer to think of myself as healthy and not needing to explore that area of growth but the universe had something else in store for me. 

One day I was fine, the next minute my brain was reeling and my eyes were seeing chopped-up versions of Picasso-like paintings revolving in front of me.  Nothing had hit me in the head, I didn’t fall down.  All I did was turn my head from one side of the pillow to the other side to look out the window to see if the sun was shining.   I tried to shut my eyes and grab my head but neither idea served any benefit.  Shaking and sweating profusely, I didn’t purposefully move a muscle anywhere in my body as the visualizations slowly settled down.  It took about an hour.  I decided to get up as though leaving the scene of the crime would be helpful to me.  Another attack hit my brain with the same intensity.  I kept my eyes open this time for a sense of grounding but I was helplessly spun with forces beyond my control as though on a carnival ride.  

With what remained of my left brain, I tried to figure out what had happened.  I couldn’t  think very well in a logical way; a brain fog had settled in very deeply into the rational side of my brain.  In the next few days I could see that my speech was creative in that in my mind I knew what I wanted to say but my brain took one syllable from each word and threw them into a blender.  The result was an abbreviated word that represented a full sentence.  It actually seemed quite efficient and thrifty and although some listeners could decipher my meaning, I had to learn to speak more slowly.  

At first I could only walk holding onto the walls nearby; slowly I found more balance and walked shakily to my destinations.  The accompanying nausea was deep and long-lasting.  I couldn’t turn my head at all and even moving my eyes upset my equilibrium.  I didn’t want to draw attention to myself more than necessary so I learned, as so many people with disabilities learn, to hide the more obvious signs of my distress. 

The doctors couldn’t figure it out.  My brain and body flunked the balancing tests they gave to me but the MRI showed no damage.  Fuzzily, I couldn’t figure out if that was a good thing or not.   Finally it was decided that a virus had attacked a portion of my brain stem.  And there was no cure.  The prognosis was unknown; time would tell the possibility of moving from one plateau to another or not. 

Since I had been working a spiritual path for a number of years, one of my first thoughts was to ask the universe why they had taken my left brain to such a degree.  There seemed to be no answer.  And then one day I looked out the window and I saw the trees, the mountains, the glaciers, and the people walking down the street all shift into one energy.  I remember calling it “Godland.”  Tears fell down my cheeks as I felt an incredible feeling of peace settle in and all around me.  My heart felt like it would burst with an electric kind of love.  

As I returned to my job working with people, I noticed that although my short term memory was indeed short, necessitating taking copious notes, I was able to visualize what they were describing about themselves.  I started finishing their sentences and seemed to know and feel what they were about to say.  I frequently found myself apologizing to people for interrupting them.   They responded by asking me how I knew what they were thinking.  Embarrassed, I mumbled something and went on with my questions.  

Over time I became less embarrassed and more appreciative for the gift of insight that seemed to be with me in a much greater degree than I had experienced before.  Whenever  I encounter a lesson from the Universe that appears in my life, I attempt to make the intention to open myself to the experience.  I am not always successful but I know in my heart that there is no right or wrong, good or bad experience; it all just is.  I like to think that all experience is for my growth, to increase my awareness and to open my heart to remembering who I really am.  If I release the judgment that might arise within my mind, I can be open to the gifts of the lessons.  

I will never know all of the gifts of this particular lesson because of my viewpoint as a human on earth.  It is a mystery and I can accept that.  I can see some gifts from this brain virus to me.  I am more aware and more trusting of operating from my intuition that I ever had been before.  I take better care of my body by healthy eating and getting more exercise.  I have a much deeper sense of empathy for people who encounter brain injuries and other disabilities.   

I have less judgment and more compassion for myself.  Now I see how important balance is in my life. Before the illness I would have been able to talk my talk but now I am walking it more.   I am living a much more aware life of taking care of myself physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually every day.  I guess you could say that I don’t take myself for granted as much as I did before this virus came to visit my brain.  And now I know “Godland.”  And I am grateful. 

Copyright 2009.  Andrea is the author of A Hit of Heaven: a soul's journey through illusion.  She and her husband are currently writing a book on relationships together.  

 

 

 

 

  

Everyone as Self

By Andrea Avari Stevens, Ph.D. 

I have had a lesson lately.  It wasn’t an easy one.   I knew that I drew this lesson to me to learn something.  I didn’t really want to learn the lesson but the lesson just kept on knocking on my door.  I picture this door as the door of my soul.  My soul wanted me to grow.  Sometimes I just don’t want to grow but my experiences tell me it is true that whatever I resist does persist. 

The short story is that I felt someone had not been honest with me about a business contract.  It wasn’t just a feeling; it was a verifiable fact.  It was difficult for me to understand why I would draw this to me. Hey, I am a good person.  I am doing my work.  Why should I have to experience this trauma?  Yes, there are times when the ‘victim mentality’ in me just wants to have the stage all to herself. 

On the other hand, I have been studying the concept of compassion more deeply than ever before.  I was struck by Karen Armstrong’s work with compassion.  Karen won the TED $100k prize this year and was able to have one wish granted.  Her wish was to work with others to create a Code of Compassion, just two pages of how compassion can really work in the world.  Armstrong said that compassion means having an understanding with another person…..really understanding, getting your ego out of the way.  It means treating other people as you would want to be treated.  

So I thought I would use that awareness to work with this breach of contract.  I have parts of me that are fragments that are separated from the wholeness that is my soul.  For example, when I think I am not good enough in some situation and I stay in that judgment of myself, the part of me that is judged is fragmented off in pain and separation.  If I want to be free of pain and move into wholeness, it is my responsibility to nurture that wounded part of me with compassion and hold it continuously as a mother holds a fearful child.  It is similar to shining the light into the darkness.  The area is illuminated and the energy is transformed.  

So my wounded parts become integrated one after another, slowly over time.  If I look at the billions of people on this planet I realize that each is a reflection of some facet of me.  The ones that flow seamlessly through my life represent the qualities which I have that are healed.  The people who come jumping up and down into my life with qualities that upset me are simply doing the same thing: reflecting qualities I have in my own personality.  

That is the challenging part; I don’t really like to admit that.  But if I am to grow in my life emotionally, mentally, and spiritually (and if I don’t, it can affect my physical life as well), I can open up to embrace that part of me without judgment.  Using only compassion, I embrace that part with love…with no ifs, ands, or buts about it.  When I embrace that quality in me, I can embrace that same quality in others and vice versa.  

That means I see everyone as self.  Everyone is a mirror of me.  I want to treat them as I would want to be treated….with respect for being a human being with a spark of the Divine within them…...just like me. 

When I am ready to talk or write to that person who breached the contract, I have done my work of holding the emotion in compassion and just sitting with it as the energy transforms.  Sometimes journaling or talking with friends can help prepare me for that holding and nurturing of my emotion.  

And then my understanding can be real.  Is there a way that I can put myself in that person’s shoes and imagine to any degree how they came to choose the action that they did?  If I sit or walk with that idea for a while, most likely a feeling of some understanding washes over me.  And then I ask myself…..how do I sometimes breach contracts, large and small?  Perhaps they are contracts with myself that I rationalize and then move in a different direction contrary to my goals.  When was the last time that I broke a contract, didn’t tell the exact truth, stretched my imagination to justify my actions?  Hmmmmmmmmmm.  

Can I hold that part of me in compassion and forgive it and love it with the fullness of my heart?  And then can I treat the other person with that same feeling.  It doesn’t mean that I do not stand up for myself.  It doesn’t mean that I just forget it.  It also doesn’t mean that I simmer in resentment for a while.  It means that I treat them as I do myself in a healing mode, with respect and understanding while I state my needs and actions to be taken.  It means that how I treat you is how I treat myself because we are one and the same. 

As I heal myself so I create more light in the world.  As each person chooses to heal, each human being illuminates radiating light on those around them.    Eventually, we are all illuminating loving energy, treating ourselves and each other as we all want to be treated.  And all it takes is courage to be compassionate. That means I have to take the time to not react from my head but to allow the space for my heart to expand and link with my mind.   Old times would say that I used to speak with a biting tongue.  I learned it well from a great teacher in my childhood.  But I am not that biting tongue in my inner Self.  I can choose another way.  Now I can write my letter in a way that expresses my limits in a way that is respectful of the other person’s boundaries as well.  And the stress that would normally weigh me down……..evaporates. 

Copyright 2009.  www.andreaavari.com  

The Clock Strikes NOW

By Andrea Avari Stevens, Ph.D. 

Much time and effort can be spent trying to be the NOW.   Being present might be defined as having your complete awareness in a particular moment so that the moment itself is absent.  The idea of being present sounds so easy; however, there are many of us that are experiencing a degree of frustration at hearing so often about being present and feeling that so many times we are not. 

 

What if we are seeking after the effect and not the cause?  What if we are trying so hard to create the effect of the NOW and there is no need to try?  There is no need to seek.  Being in the NOW is simply the effect of living in our highest consciousness.  Well, that is great but how does one do that?  It is like learning to love yourself.  There are many books written about it but rarely does a deeper understanding comes through to the reader. 

 

What we are desiring in our lives is to open the flow of energy.  This vibrational flow is between the personality and our higher consciousness.  Resistance to the flow comes from our unresolved relationships.  If we look deeply enough at any disturbing occurrence in our lives such as a feeling of lack of abundance in any area, it will reflect to us a blockage in a relationship with ourselves.  But we will notice it most clearly in our relationships with others, particularly those with whom we have an emotional charge.

 

We can try to be present in the NOW all we want.  But until we resolve the blockages in our relationships, we are lusting after an effect of something we haven’t realized in our lives.  That effect is the greater awareness of who we truly are at our essence, the process of self-realization.  The physical effects of misusing our emotional, mental and spiritual energies cause imbalances in our bodies and minds, restricting the flow of energy between the personality and the higher consciousness.  We keep putting forth effort to be in the NOW but we will continually fall out into our humanity consciousness until we learn to resolve the blockages in our relationships.  Then we can move out of our habitual focus on the limited sense of our humanity and create the space to live in the infinite qualities of our higher consciousness.

 

How do we learn to live more often in our higher consciousness?  As we resolve the "stuckness" of our relationships, we are able to spend more of our time focusing on the "I" that is the Unified Field of Consciousness.  We are each a droplet of that connected consciousness.  The "I AM", or whatever words work for you, expands when we build our focus on it.  Breathing deeply into that energy that we know so deeply in our hearts in times of silence, expands the higher vibrations.  We can feel it deepening into every cell of ourselves.  Our focus on humanity lessens and finds its proper alignment as the space of higher consciousness expands within us.  When we think we are losing connection (we are always in connection because That is who we are but we tend to think it anyway when fear appears in our minds) we return to our breathing.

 

To live in the NOW, we are being called to explore our stuck places that hold degrees of fearful thoughts.  The global depression we are experiencing in our collective consciousness calls each one of us in a particular way to have the courage to open up our flows.  As we free ourselves of the restrictions, our personality or egos align with our higher consciousness and we realize and remember who we truly are.  The fog clears and the clock strikes the ever present NOW.  There is nothing to seek; we already are that which we have been seeking and that is love. 

 

 

Check out Andrea’s new website at www.andreaavari.com where she is offering new teleclasses on Strengthening Mindfulness.  Andrea is the author of "A Hit of Heaven: a soul's journey through illusion."   

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wholeness of Light and Dark

By Andrea Avari Stevens, Ph.D. 

After reading an inspiring article about Peter Kater in Science of Mind magazine by Claudia Abbott, I wanted to share some of his thoughts on creativity. Peter has been nominated for 5 Grammy Awards, written musical scores for a number of documentaries, and his Healing Series of music used in the healing and therapeutic arts.  

No stranger to life’s ups and downs, Peter Kater was raised by a single mother who died when he was just eighteen creating an early life of poverty and hunger.  Being aware of the interplay of the light and dark in our creative lives, Kater states “….so often we are light chasers, so concerned with creating our lives and moving into light, that we often overlook the importance of the dark.  What we don’t know and cannot see becomes disturbing.  But it is so obvious to biologists and physicists that the darkness is essential.  Light and dark can’t exist without each other.  We have to have both to create.  We have to learn how to integrate darkness and be curious about what is hidden inside.  When we imagine a world that works for everyone, we need to explore the pain and integrate it.  You cannot sustain a light, bright experience 24/7.   Darkness becomes dysfunctional only when it is denied.  Looking at our pain, understanding the shadow, integrates the darkness into wholeness.  We have to see the value of all life’s experiences.  We have emotions for a reason.”  

When I was teaching creative thinking at an art college, a few students would be concerned that if their depressive perspective on life were taken away, they would be unable to create.  These students were very protective of their anxiety and depression as an integral part of their art.  For some, the more positive aspects of life did not generate the depth of emotion that they wanted to touch in their process.  Remembering the wholeness of the experiences of our lives means we appreciate both the light and the dark.  I think Kater’s words might help bring a balance to the fear of those students who so embraced the dark. 

 

Andrea is a spiritual coach focusing on the process of awakening.  She will be offering Mindfulness Teleclasses through her website at andreaavari.com.  She is the author of A Hit of Heaven: a soul’s journey through illusion.  

Moving Toward Wholeness

By Jim Self Published Yesterday Mastering Alchemy with Jim Self Rating: 

 

Together we are becoming a unified consciousness within a global community.  The duality of opposites, black and white, East and West, right and wrong, us and them, good and bad, and male and female is changing.  The dividing lines are becoming less distinct.  We are moving from the third-dimensional experience of separation and extremes to a way of life that allows for many greater possibilities, connected communities and expanding ease and well-being.  We are in a shift.  We are remembering how to live in our fifth-dimensional consciousness while we walk in this third-dimensional world.

Not long ago western medicine was the only option for most of us.  Now complementary therapies such as Acupuncture, Shiatsu, Massage, and Reiki are part of the Mainstream.  Our social networks now include people across the globe.  Micro-credit and fair trade practices have given us relationships with people in Columbia who grow our coffee and others who weave our jackets in Africa.  There are many more avenues to effectively heal and reach physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being.  The wisdom of the East is being blended with the knowledge of the West.  What was true yesterday is not necessarily true today.  Our wisdom and knowledge are transitioning into a new ‘Wholeness’.

There is a specific reason you are reading this right now.  You are contributing to this expanding ‘Shift of Consciousness’.  You have a purpose, or task, to accomplish that adds to All-That-Is.  You are a significant player in this unfolding game, and NOW is the time to step up and be the leader, mentor and healer that you came here to be.  

Another Tool for Change

One of the first steps toward fulfilling this purpose is to clear away the false beliefs that keep you from your task.  Many of these beliefs came from truths that were handed down to you by well-intentioned grownups along the way.  These truths never aligned with who you are and have kept you stuck in the third-dimensional game of limitation and mediocrity.

Freeing yourself from these limitations and returning passion to your life is simply a matter of building your awareness.  Ninety-six percent of making any change starts with self-observation, the simple act of becoming aware.  Start by noticing the situation you’re in.  Have a present-time curiosity and awareness of your habits, thoughts and actions.  Just notice them.  The next three percent of making that change is having the ability to laugh at what you discover about yourself.  No self-judgment, just amusement.  The final one percent toward succeeding on your path is to do something different, something very simple and easy.  That simple, one percent movement might be a smile, opening a door, complimenting a stranger, saying hello or otherwise contributing to the well-being of another.  Allow a new possibility, one that feels better, to become the next step on your path.  This starts a flow and invites the change you seek.  As you build a greater awareness, laugh at yourself and allow yourself to make very slight movements toward developing new habits.  The inner dualities and extremes will fall away.  From this new perspective you will begin to make new, clear, intentional choices and anchor the greater, wiser, higher part of your ‘Self' into your daily life.  Merging with the Soul; recognizing the answers to your questions.  You will be operating from a place of ease; and certainty, confidence, and grace will be yours.

A Shift is occurring.  It is grand movement toward a life of integrity, grace and well-being.  The transition between where we are and where we are going may be bumpy and challenging, but it is also very exciting.  Regardless of whether we embrace the changes or resist them, we are moving forward to a way of being that is closer to who we truly are.

      Jim Self is an international teacher, speaker and author. He has been a leader in the field of spiritual development for over 27 years. He offers us the Tools of Mastering Alchemy as a Way of Life.

This work is co-created with the Archangels, Ascended Masters and Teachers of Light. Free DVD and Free Tele-classes are available.

      Jim presents free local evening classes and a weekend seminar ‘Creating the Personal Power Field’ across North America. www.MasteringAlchemy.com (775) 851-8950.