by Connie Habash | Nov 7, 2023 | Articles, Autumn, Dreams, insight, Intuition, Unknown
Fall takes us into the subtle realms – the inner mystery – where we interact with our spirit and our unconscious through dreams, visions, intuition, and imagination.
Autumn’s longer nights turn us to the unknown within us – the inner mysteries. The dark represents the inner self, the unconscious, and the soul. Throughout the autumn season, we endeavor to make conscious what is unconscious, unknown, and unimagined. We dive into the mystery of darkness and nighttime in order to bring insight into the light at the Winter Solstice.
Pay attention to your dreams right now. It helps to keep a journal next to your bed so that at the moment you wake up, you can write down what you recall. Now that outer activity is downshifting to the slower Autumn pace, things that have been repressed or ignored are ripe to bubble up to the surface. The dreamscape is a perfect place for repressed feelings, issues, or ideas to arise.
Native American Dreaming
Native Americans have always valued and honored the potency of dreams. For them, the images and experiences received during our sleep are messages from Great Spirit, or perhaps our ancestors. Dreams potentially contained the keys to healing an illness, resolving a problem in the tribe, or personal guidance of any sort. They felt it critical, once they determined the message, to act on it. Not to do so could mean losing a special opportunity, or even going against the will of the Divine.
Not every dream necessarily has this kind of power. But there are dreams that shake us and wake us in the middle of the night. Some hold a tremendous emotional power that we can’t deny, even if we don’t remember all the details. Some evoke fear, and others lift us to heights of inspiration. These are the dreams we cannot ignore, and need to take the time to sit with and ponder. Yet, even the “ordinary” dreams have treasures to offer us, if we delve past their surface. The meaning isn’t usually literal or obvious at first: it takes some patience, imagination, and a little detective work to let the meaning of a dream percolate to the surface of your awareness.
Dreams allow the unconscious to express itself, creativity to arise, intuition to come forth, and the Divine to touch our minds. Often, these multiple levels of meaning happen concurrently within one dream. Meditate on these messages and metaphors, scribble them on a page, draw an image from them, do a dance to the tune of the theme of your dream, and above all write down whatever arises. Find ways to let this rich dream world express itself and reveal its mysteries and messages.
The Vision Quest
Many Native American nations also had a waking-dream practice—the Vision Quest. Often embarked upon at pivotal points in one’s lifetime (like adolescence), the Vision Quest is a practice of initiation as well as a portal through which one is shown the vision for one’s life. Traditionally practiced as three solitary days and nights out in the wilderness, the quester fasts and prays to the Great Spirit to bring him or her a vision: a revelation of his or her purpose or direction to take in life.
You may not have the time or ability to venture into the wild for a Vision Quest (nor would it be recommended without proper preparation and support!), but autumn is perfect for a personal retreat to reflect and seek inner guidance. A weekend away in solitude, holding an all-night vigil, or a sacred fast may bring realizations and shift your perspective in a profound way.
Daydreaming
Daydreams are part of the inner self unfolding, too. Notice what daydreams float through your awareness. Sift out ordinary imaginings (like eating at your favorite restaurant or going to an amusement park) from visions. Visions shift you from ordinary consciousness to new insight and perspective. You may picture yourself in a fulfilling new career, helping someone in need, or meditating under the foot of a great tree. These are daydreams that guide your life direction and offer inspiration. Give them credence and, like your night-dreams, let their intuitive messages open you to manifesting new possibilities.
Intuition
Intuition, like dreams and visions, speaks strongly during the fall. It’s hard for that still, small voice within us to be heard when we’re focused on a lot of activity and busy-ness. Yet the slower, quiet space of fall makes it easier to hear the voice of intuition if we take the time to tune in. As our bodies turn towards more rest and relaxation, the gut speaks out. Listen carefully.
Yoga practice benefits from an intuitive approach, too. While it’s still warm, the playful and daring energy of summer predominates. But as you pass the marker of the Equinox, delve into that intuition and let it guide you in the poses. Although the ego wants to do more, your inner self may be suggesting fewer poses, more observation and reflection within them. Questions to explore as you practice:
- What am I feeling, experiencing?
- How is this pose affecting me?
- How is my attitude affecting my experience of the pose?
- What movement seems intuitively right next?
- Is my mind in the present, reflecting on the past, or projecting to the future? How does that relate to the pose I’m in?
- What wants to be expressed through my movement?
- What does my quiet inner voice tell me as I breathe into this moment?
Practicing with your eyes closed is a powerful and revealing experience, allowing you to let go of the external world and focus on your intuitive self. As you step from the outer world to the inner world, let go of the tendency to look outside yourself at your body, and immerse into the feeling under the skin, in the muscles, joints, and bones. Find the organs in your belly and notice their sensations as you twist, fold, and bend. Sense the blood flowing and pulsing, and the movement of the breath in and out. The mind becomes serene and intuition steps in as a guiding force.
Whether you immerse in the realm of dreams or are following your intuition, fall’s energy calls us to look within. Listen to the call and allow it to carry you into the inner mystery, until it reveals your inner knowing.
Want to delve into your spiritual depths and inner wisdom with my personal guidance? Consider Spiritual Mentoring!
by Connie Habash | Sep 3, 2021 | Guidance, Intuition, Meditation, Peace, Relax, Release
Most of us don’t value silence – yet it has many blessings. Discover the benefits of giving yourself the gift of silence (and how to actually cultivate it).
Ah, modern life. It’s so full of busy-ness, to-do lists, and distraction – very little silence. There’s so much media around us to watch, play with, and listen to. It’s easy to fill every day with scrolling and watching, reading, and tuning into shows or podcasts. Plus there is the sound of traffic, leaf blowers, airplanes, vacuum cleaners. So much activity, and so little silence.
We may be a little uncomfortable with silence as a result. What do we do with it? Our bodies start to feel restless and tense, trying to figure out what to do with all that quiet. So we keep filling life with noise.
That noise isn’t limited to what is outside of us – internally, there’s constant chatter in our minds. Although it may be a very familiar friend, there’s a cost to all this inner dialogue and thinking – it expends a tremendous amount of energy. Excessive talking is a reflection of the internal thoughts, and also depletes our vital life force, adding to the noise.
Put together all the external, boundless noise in our world and the constant chatter within us, and it’s no wonder we often feel overwhelmed and exhausted.
The Gift of Silence is stepping out of that cycle of constant distraction, activity, and thinking. In the inner quiet, we receive many blessings:
- Energy – The energy we were wasting on thinking and constant external stimulation is reclaimed and renewed within us in silence. Imagine how much vitality you may discover from all that recovered energy!
- Ease – All that noise and agitation causes tension in our body and mind. When we finally give ourselves a little silence, the body has an opportunity to relax and let go.
- Creativity – If we don’t allow open, quiet, unstructured time, new ideas can’t emerge within us. Our brain is too engaged with all of the distractions. Recent studies have discovered that some boredom – which includes silence and letting go of “doing” for a while – increases productivity and creativity.
- Peace – If you’ve ever been stargazing outdoors in the mountains or desert on a dark and clear night, you have probably felt the palpable sense of peace. We can’t have inner peace without quieting the internal noise, too. Silence outside of us helps us find that silence within that brings peace.
- Inner Knowing – How can we possibly hear our intuition, or the inner, quiet voice of Spirit, when we’re inundated by external distraction and internal, incessant chatter? Once you access a bit more inner silence, you’ll be able to hear the gentle guidance of the Divine more clearly.
There may be many more blessings in silence that you haven’t discovered yet, because you haven’t valued it enough to seek it. There is a vast realm of your own True Self within waiting for you to find it in the quiet. Meditation is a wonderful way to discover that silence inside of you, but you can also experience it walking through the woods or down a quiet road, sitting in the sunshine, arising before dawn, or opening a window late at night. You can even use earplugs when the external circumstances don’t cooperate!
But don’t expect silence to be completely quiet. In meditation, the mind will probably still have thoughts. To find that inner silence, don’t try to shut those thoughts down: instead, seek and focus on the quiet spaces between them.
Give yourself the Gift of Silence; open to receive the ease, energy, peace, creativity, and inner knowing, and see what other gifts may show up in your life.
Want support in finding the inner quiet? Join me for my online Monthly Meditation Class!
by Connie Habash | Feb 13, 2020 | Divine, Intuition, Universe, Vibration
When you’re looking to learn the language of the Universe don’t think English – think vibration.
Remember that old joke about the guy who is drowning in the ocean, calling upon God to send help? How a life preserver, a boat, and finally a helicopter are sent to rescue him, but he keeps saying, “no, I have faith in God, I’ll wait for Him.” He ends up drowning, and when he arrives in heaven, he asks, “why did you let me die?” And God says, “Hey, I sent a life preserver, a boat, and a helicopter…”
Sometimes, it can be tough to figure out which way to go in life. We long for someone to come along and make it completely clear. We’re often seeking signs from “God” – what I call the Divine or the Universe – in our lives, and we’re expecting those guideposts to show up in an obvious way. To be in our native language; for me, that would be English.
But like the man flailing in the ocean, the rescue team probably won’t appear as a big old guy in robes descending from the heavens: likewise, our messages from the Divine may not show up in a easy-to-read English format. We need to learn the Universe’s language: vibration
Spandana
Sanskrit has a word that captures this Divine energy of the Universe: spandana. Spandana has a number of meanings, all focused around pulsation and vibration. We know, scientifically, that everything in existence is made of energy: vibrating, pulsing energy. All atoms are 99% fluctuations of energy and space. Yeah, all this stuff that we believe is stuff isn’t really – it’s always energy in motion within the emptiness of space.
Spandana is that energetic vibration, which is information. If we think of the source of everything in the Universe as Divine, then this energy that vibrates and pulsates in all of existence is the language of Spirit, creating all that is – and communicating to us through this medium of vibrating energy.
Attuning to Vibration
The key to connecting with and understanding the Universe – and it’s messages for you – is attuning to its vibration. Whether it’s a rock, a tree, a hippopotamus, or the wind, you can learn to pay attention to the energy that you feel in its presence and gain a world of understanding. By picking up on the spandana, you can receive a download much like a subtle symphony of energetic vibration.
A musical instrument, like a singing bowl, can give us a sense of this in a more overt way. When a mallet strikes a singing bowl – those metal bowls that make a harmonious sound when you tap them – you hear the various tones that bowl creates.
But that isn’t all that you pick up on. Sound travels in waves of vibration. If you’re attentive, you can also feel the vibration in your body when you hear the bowl struck. Even if you can’t feel that, if you put your hand near the bowl (or if need be, actually touch it), you would feel it literally vibrating in your fingers.
If you were deaf, you could still discern the vibrations coming from the bowl. That’s a very physical representation of the pulsing energy or spandana in the Universe, and a lot easier to pick up on. But the Universe works in a similar way.
It’s a Feeling Thing
Once we pick up on that fluctuation of energy, we can discern its meaning through feeling. The easiest way to feel the vibration is through our own instrument, the physical body. We can attune to the sensations we experience viscerally to attempt to understand what we’re receiving.
Let’s look at an example of this. If you walk into a room, and you begin to feel tight and constricted in your stomach, what might that be telling you? Do you feel safe? Is there tension between people in the room? Is something out of order or unbalanced? Once you notice the response in your body to the energy around you, your analytical mind can then assist you in sorting out what your physical and intuitive selves have picked up on.
Listening to the Language of the Universe
When we’re looking for guidance in our lives from a Higher Source, we can similarly tune in to vibration. The Divine communicates to us all the time in this energetic way, but we often dismiss or don’t even notice these more subtle feelings of pulsing energy.
Take a moment right now. If you have a question, hold it in your mind, and notice what you feel in your body. Jot down sensations; pay particular attention to vibration and movement of energy (or static stuckness) in any area within you. Note as well your emotions, thoughts, and images. Don’t discount anything. Write it down.
Then, give yourself some time to sit with the information. Allow it to percolate a bit, to be processed through your body as well as your mind and heart. Give it a few days if it’s an important question. Pay attention to your dreams. Once you’ve received the vibrational download, it can take a while for translation, just as it does for translating an ancient manuscript.
This is a very simple explanation of a more involved practice, so give yourself time and practice to learn. The spandana, or vibration, of the Divine is always available for you to attune to. You truly can develop your inner knowing and understand the messages of the Universe, if you learn the language of vibration.
Want to learn more? Come to the Listening Within Workshop on March 14th at Unity of San Jose, or join my email list for announcements of upcoming events, in person and online!
Fall takes us into the subtle realms – the inner mystery – where we interact with our spirit and our unconscious through dreams, visions, intuition, and imagination.
When you’re looking to learn the language of the Universe don’t think English – think vibration.
