INDEX A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR................................................................................................................... 2 MEDITATION AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH..................................................................................................... 4 THE WAY OF SPIRIT .......................................................................................................................................... 7 UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR THE SELF......................................................................................................... HEALING OF THE HEART .................................................................................................................................. TALKING ABOUT CONTACT .............................................................................................................................. TALKING ABOUT FREEDOM............................................................................................................................. TALKING ABOUT STRUGGLE........................................................................................................................... TALKING ABOUT RESISTANCE........................................................................................................................ PRESENT PERFECT: THE PERFECT SEED FOR THE PERFECT LIFE .................................................... DREAMS: INTENTIONS OR EXPECTATIONS? .............................................................................................. THE MATRIX (SPIRITUAL) ................................................................................................................................. THE BRIDGE........................................................................................................................................................... ARE YOU BEING HEARD?................................................................................................................................... GIVING AND RECEIVING: WHERE IS THE BALANCE?............................................................................... DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS .......................................................................................................................... NEGATIVITY OR LACK OF PERSPECTIVE?................................................................................................... THE AUTHOR ........................................................................................ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. CONTACT US .......................................................................................................................................................... A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR These articles are written as a means of inspiration for those who enjoy reading spiritually based literature. Through them, I intend to give you different perspectives, a detached outlook, and my personal insight so that they can help you shift your view of your present reality and realize that we always have a choice and that it is this choice which makes the difference between a life of struggle and a life of empowerment. All my writings are interactive. By this I mean that I would love to hear from you regarding what actions you may have taken as a result of reading my articles or what thoughts they have inspired in you. Email me at: anataggy@yahoo.co.uk These articles are seeds and they will bear fruit when the time is right, I truly believe so, for nothing we read or learn is ever wasted. As with all spiritually based literature, you may find that every time you read them you discover another layer of meaning, based on your present stage of development and awareness. And if you would like to have a conversation with me regarding the current issues in your life that you may be working on, I would be delighted to offer you my personal and spiritual perspective, a “hyperlink” so as to speak, and work with you in order to create a strategy to raise above whatever hurdles or obstacles you are being presented with in this moment and time. I wish for you to enjoy these articles and may your life be full and blessed. Ana Copyright © Ana Garcia 2003-2006. All rights reserved. No portion(s) of this workbook can be copied, used or reproduced for any manner without the expressed written consent of Ana Garcia. * * * * * We believe that meditation requires the mastering of incredibly difficult techniques and that only advanced “gurus” or “shamans” can actually do it and achieve what we call “Nirvana”. However, meditation is an activity that we all can and should do in order to help quieting the mind and accessing our inner guidance. Meditation can simply be spending fifteen minutes in silence every day. Try it: it will change your life. * * * * * MEDITATION AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH Meditation is the single most important tool of self-development and spiritual growth. Although the majority of people think of meditation as something that only very advance priests or shamans do and that it requires specific attributes, skills and attitudes, anybody can and should meditate. If we were to describe meditation, we could use the analogy of digestion: When we eat, certain chemical responses take place in our body in order to break down the food in small particles that can be absorbed by our cells. After all, if there is an interruption of this process and the food does not reach the cells themselves, we may eat, but we will not obtain the nutrition we need from our food. In the same way, we may read books and obtain knowledge in many other ways and store it in our brain. However, if this knowledge does not reach our heart it will not become part of us. It will not be part of our engine, that is to say, the part of us being made up of emotions, beliefs, feelings, etc, which sets in motion the rest of our organism, providing us with a direction. Therefore meditation is the digestion of knowledge in order to become part of us. The fact that certain amount of information is stored in our brains does not mean that we are any wiser. We simply have accumulated a larger database. In order to make this information part of our belief system and our experience (what we feel, what we know to be our truth, our emotions…) we need to process it. And this is done when we meditate. We all know people who have studied several degrees and have powerful minds, but can not adapt to the environment, can not develop healthy relationships and can not become part of social groups. They seem to lack common sense and empathy: they find it difficult to put themselves in other people’s shoes and do not understand why people react negatively to their good intentions. Meditation would help enormously in opening the heart and promoting compassion, empathy and the flexibility necessary to listen to other peoples’ opinions without feeling threatened. After all, listening does not mean we need to take in these thoughts, but conversations do need to be a two way street. We also may know people who talk as if they were reciting quotes and pieces of information but, ultimately, do not seem to show any emotion. We quickly lose interest and do not feel motivated by this list of figures and sentences that seem to have been learnt by heart and which seem to be set in stone. Meditation would make all this information part of the person himself and an individual point of view would develop, normally expressed with passion because it would come from the heart, not from the mind. When we meditate, we develop an inner knowing of our own that does not depend on anybody else’s opinion. We become flexible and open to other points of view because we realise that we all have ideas about which we feel passionately but we don't feel threatened by them. We are all one and the same, simply in different states of evolution and with different backgrounds. The idea is that we all need to share who we are without losing ourselves in the process, gaining from each other’s wisdom without trying to force our ideas on others, or allowing others to do so to us. In order to meditate we do not need to develop elaborate positions or follow a strict number of steps which, were they not done in the correct order, the whole process would be useless. To meditate, we need to be alone and undisturbed while the meditation lasts. We also need silence, loose and comfortable clothes, some relaxation music would help and a comfortable position sitting down or lying down (even though we may find that we fall sleep if we are lying down and are tired). We then close our eyes and relax our body through a few deep breaths, we notice which muscles are tense and we can begin releasing them. Breath in the light and energy of the Universe and breath out our tensions and worries of the moment. We then start observing our thoughts as they pass by. We do not get attached to them or judge them. We think of them as clouds in the sky: they are passing by, but not staying. We do not concern ourselves whether these thoughts belong to us or merely pass through us; whether they are born in us or borrowed by us… As we make room for the silence, the space between thoughts, it will grow bigger each time. We begin hearing our intuition, our little guiding inner voice. Sudden insights, great truths and realisations become part of us. When we finish, we give ourselves some time to return to our reality. We will then notice that we feel much more harmonious and calm and that it is easier to stay in our centre regardless of the external circumstances, the pulling and pushing we are subject to every day in our lives. As a subject of the meditation, we may concentrate in one subject or problem, or we may make space for whatever needs to come in at the moment. Whichever way, practice fifteen minutes everyday. It will change your life! August ’1999 * * * * * This is an inspirational article that is meant to help people reconnect with their own inner power in order to see and raise their awareness towards our relationship with the earth. * * * * * THE WAY OF SPIRIT Have you seen the film “Geronimo” – it tells the story of that last great Native American warrior stronghold against the American occupation of the Apache’s land. Surprising the way somehow this account touched a chord in me: we all have seen a lot of westerns and films portraying injustice. But there was something special about this one: there were dead people but there were no gory scenes, so it wasn’t the blood pour what stroked a chord. What really touched me is that this One Man stood his ground against a Vast Power because he believed he was a warrior and that there was enough land for all to live in it as free men. Common sense? Obvious? Well, yes. Greed? Abuse of power? Fear? Yes, of course. When Geronimo and his thirty-five men gave themselves up under the false promises of being given some land and the freedom to live in it (which, by the way, the whole of the American army could not bring down hadn’t it been for the negotiations conducted heart-to-heart by one American official who believed in the way of peace and respect), I could feel the hurt and the pain of Mother Earth. She was in pain because she didn’t understand how such a vast planet of such rich resources could not be enough for all her sons and daughters to share and live in peace and tolerance with each other. Were not the difference of skin and the difference in cultures part of the richness flourishing on her? Wasn’t this an opportunity to learn each other’s ways and to expand our realities? Yes, but not only did we missed this opportunity: we squashed it for the many centuries to come, including today, the 21st century, where power and greed still want to win, no matter what cost. Perhaps more than ever… I am not talking here about politics. I am not talking here about right or wrong. I am talking here about the Power of Spirit. As you may know, a colleague of mine who is a medium and I are channelling the words of the non-incarnated Masters in order to compile information that will help wake the Children of Gaia. These are exciting times indeed. One of these Lords of Wisdom asked me this question: “What do you choose? Greed or Spirit? Your choice is important.” I said “I choose the Earth and Spirit”. At the time, I thought I knew what I was saying, as you do when put on the spot by a Figure of the Truth and to which you Can Not Lie To. But only when watching this film the full truth hit me on the face: I felt the pain of Gaia (Mother Earth), I felt the suffocation of Spirit being crushed to a mere glimpse of its potential, I felt the limitations that the Ignorance of the Power Bearers of governments, religions and other like organisations impose on You and Me because they need to disguise The Truth in order to gain this power to feed their greed. And I am asking you: “What do you choose? Greed or Spirit? Your choice is important.” And like me, be careful what words you pronounce. It may hit you in the face that it is time for you to stand by your truth and stop the nonsense of lies and limitations. I offer you this: I will guide you to connect to the Power of your Spirit, to the Power of Who You Really Are; that you become the Light that you were meant to be and guide others in the same direction. Times are coming when if you don’t make a decision, the decision will be made for you. You are either a Child of the Earth or you are working against the Mission you were born to Accomplish in this lifetime. It is hard, I hear you say? You are scared of your own power, of your own success? OK. You can start by creating the Vision of Who You Want to Be, asking Spirit to guide you along, following the step-by-step guidance given to you (this, of course, requires that you Listen so that you can Hear the messages) and the path will become Clear one bit at a time. Try it. I did and now there is no turning back. Go for the adventure of a Life With a Purpose. Don’t just plod along wandering what is your special gift and how much love and compassion you are holding on to that you could be sharing. And when you think: if only I won the lottery, if only I had more money… I tell you this: don’t think in Money terms for money is simply one more resource. Think in Abundance terms: create more love and support in your life, create more time for meditation and stillness to be able to connect with your Inner Self, create space for people who, like you, want to know what their piece is in this Vast Puzzle of the Universe where nothing is wasted and everything is necessary. It all starts from you to you, so give yourself the Present, the Gift of your Compassion and Acceptance. And you will be following the Way of Spirit. November 2002