It's All A Gift

It’s All A Gift.

The energy this week leading up to the solstice has been really potent for me. It’s been some of the most transformative energy in recent memory.

Given that the past few years have been some of the most intense times of my life, that’s saying a lot.

I’ve been sleeping a ton. My sleep patterns and energy levels are always a good indicator of what’s happening energetically. This week has seen me sleeping about 10 hours a night with a solid hour nap in the afternoon for good measure.

Today was the same and I woke up much later than my usual time. What I saw when I opened my eyes was nothing short of spectacular. My room faces East, so I get a good view of the morning sky first thing upon waking. The sunrises lately have been stunning, but today was over the top. The whole span of the open space I saw through my window was a wash of intense magenta, orange, and violet. I jumped out of bed and threw on my slippers so I could go outside to witness it. The colors in the sky are fleeting and ephemeral. In a blink a kaleidoscope of color can fade to dull gray-blue. This morning I made it outside in plenty of time to see the breathtaking beauty.

I snapped a few pictures and then stood, looking up, proclaiming “WOOOOOW! Thank you!” “This is such a gift!” It didn’t matter that it was 27 degrees out and I was dressed only in a t-shirt and sweatpants. I marveled at the rainbow of colors and said again out loud, “This is such a gift!”

In that moment I heard very clearly in reply, “It’s all a gift.”

“None of what you experience in this life time is a curse. You are never being punished.” “It is always on opportunity to see yourself and your life in a way that perhaps you never have before.” “I am always with you, even in those moments of pain and sorrow.” “All I ever want is for you to remember how loved and held you are.”

I have lived a life that is full of wonder and beauty. I have been loved deeply. I have known deep pain and sorrow too. While joy and awe at this magical life have been familiar companions to me, I have also lived fear, suffering, and crushing adversity.

There have been many times when I have felt lost, afraid, and deeply alone. There have been times when I wasn’t sure I could continue or even wanted to.

Yet, even in the darkest times, I have always known that love is behind it all.

Years ago, I had a friend comment that I was a bit of a Pollyanna, always determined to see the bright side of things no matter what. Honestly, I think he meant it to be an insult, but I actually agreed with him. I proudly replied, “Yeah, I guess I am.”

To me, the ultimate choice we humans have is in how we choose to perceive things.

Moments of deep grief and sadness have reminded me of just how deeply I am capable of feeling and loving.

Moments of paralyzing fear have offered me an opportunity to rise up and face the darkest parts of myself with openness and surrender, reminding myself of my strength.

The childhood pain of growing up as an outsider instilled within me a trust in myself that is one of my greatest superpowers.

Even now, in the current circumstances of taking care of my ailing father, I am faced every single day with roadblocks of frustration, emotional discord, heartbreak, and anger. Sometimes it all feels really overwhelming and I want nothing more than to run away. What it’s been teaching me is how to access untapped wells of compassion and unconditional love within myself that I didn’t even know existed.

I thought I knew what love was.

This isn’t about martyrdom, it’s about realizing what I think is the supreme lesson for any human to learn.

We all, for better or worse, project our own perspective onto the world. Most of our reality has no objective meaning. It’s primarily a mental game.

One of the messages that has been coming through over and over in recent sessions with clients has been really inspiring. Put two people on a rollercoaster sitting side by side. They’re taking the same ride, on the same day, in the same car, on the same track, and they can have two wildly different experiences. One of them will have a thrilling adventure, and the other will have an experience of pure terror.

So, what’s the difference between the two?

In short, it’s all in the mind.

It is what they project onto the rollercoaster ride through their mental lens that creates their experience of it. Their perspectives, belief systems, expectations, and lived history is what forms their reality. Objectively, they are on the exact same ride. There is no difference other than what they individually bring to it.

There is an inherent gift (you could also call it a lesson) woven into each moment of life.

Sometimes, the gift is easy to spot, sometimes it’s a bit more hidden. Sometimes it’s earthshaking, other times it’s seemingly insignificant.

The truth of this gift of life, is that it’s always offering us an opportunity to see beyond the veil of our mental projections and liberate ourselves from them.

The key to all of it I feel is to take none of it personally.

Both the good and the bad ultimately have nothing to do with you beyond what you decide it does.

Does the river bed curse the water that slowly erodes its banks? No, it simply allows itself to be transformed and carried by the current that runs through it.

Life doesn’t happen to you, it happens through you.

It’s true.

Spirit isn’t out to get you. You aren’t being punished or rewarded based upon an arbitrary set of rules. You are, as a creator being, crafting your experience in real time all of the time. Every thought, every choice, every belief, paints the picture you see.

Spirit is the light that streams from the projector. That light is the light of consciousness. The movie that you see on the screen before you is created by what you put in front of that light. If you don’t like the movie, you don’t change it by yelling at the screen, you change it by altering the things you’ve placed between you and the light that is always streaming through you.

Spirit doesn’t create exclusively, She can’t.

She is the supreme totality. All things exist within Her, and She is always creating from the inclusion of it all. For Her to deny any part of life would be to deny Herself. If She denies anything within the field of existence, She then ceases to be complete. And She is always and eternally complete. She has to be, that’s the whole point.

The same goes for each and every human. We are whole and complete. We are also granted the experience of free will so that we can remember how painful it is to create from the denial of ourselves. We are here to remember how to re-unify with all of life. Our guides, our helpers, our angels, and even our Higher Self cannot support us in moving away from our center. If we insist on fracturing ourselves, our free will allows us to do so. If we are determined to run away, we can make that choice. In those moments, the best our support team can do is shout from the sidelines in an attempt to get us back on track. Yet they cannot actively help us deny ourselves.

The field of unconditional love that binds us all together is inherently neutral. Unconditional love is exactly that, unconditional. Whether or not we believe we are loved, worthy, and powerful, doesn’t change the fact that we are.

The biggest mountain to climb is often the one of our limiting beliefs. We live in a reality that is created to reflect back to us exactly what we project. It’s essentially an infinite echo chamber.

When I insist on projecting my unresolved issues onto the world, it will unconditionally show them back to me. When I choose to take a new path, and challenge my assumptions, life will shift and bend itself to show me that too. It has to. Energy is here to serve, it’s universal law.

This week, as we approach the Solstice, we are in a phase of shedding. In the Northern Hemisphere we are losing light each day as we move towards the longest night. This is a period of letting things go. It's a beautiful time to reflect how far you have come this year. It's a perfect time to grieve all that was. It's an opportunity to decide what you are leaving behind as you cross the threshold into a new chapter.

It is also a pivot. As we stand motionless for a moment in the space in between, we can pause and join all of creation in an exhale as the light drains from the day.

Then, as we inhale, we turn the page towards increasingly longer days and reclaiming the light.

May you be blessed with Divine Gifts this season and always. Even the hard ones that come wrapped in difficulty and challenge.

Sometimes you are called to forge the path, sometimes you are called to follow it.

No matter what, you are always loved and held.

I love you,

💚Amar