Welcome to Karmageddon....
Karmageddon is what I jokingly refer to as spiritual overload or self help extreme.
I discovered the idea of Karmageddon around the time the term Carmageddon was popular as a term for "traffic" due to the closing and restructuring of the 405 freeway. It was like open heart surgery on the bloodline for all LA commuters.
Karma, we lovingly refer to as reaping what we sew, in the most basic and layman's terms. We purge Karma, we try to gain positive karma and release negative karma, we work off karma, I have even seen tip jars at Starbucks with signs that say: "Tip for good karma"
The more we learn about different religions the more we learn where they connect. The bible says "eye for an eye", in buddhisim there is Karma. It is a similar principle. Karma just can take many lifetimes where eye for an eye can be immediate. It keeps us within guidlines of morality and it keeps us in check.
Many of us are on a path, arguably everyone is. More and more people are discovering the path they are on is a spiritual one. As we move towards this concept we open ourselves up to what that means.
There are new age lifers that have been eating vegan and mediating and doing yoga since their underwater hypno birth. There are die hard bible belt religious people and the people in between. There are many who are just now opening more and more to the possibilities of collective conciousness, to a broader spiritual spectrum that includes the Power of Now, Quantum Physics, Law of Attraction and the Divine Light Awakening.
There is yoga of all kinds: Karma Yoga, Power Yoga Bikram Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Hot Yoga, Core Yoga, Thai Yoga Massage, Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Anusara Yoga, Laughter Yoga.... Holy Namaste!! That's alot of yoga to choose from!
Then a quick glance at our coices for Healing Modalities: Meditation, Reiki, Integrated Energy Therapy, Hypnotherepy, Past Life Regression, Rebirthing, Pranic Healing, Color Therepy, Healing with Crystals, Healing w/ Angles, Tapping or EFT, Ayurveda, Agape, Sonic Crystal Bowl Healing, Shamanistic Drumming, Vipassana, Tai Chi, Qigong..... to name a very few.
Every Tuesday night I am presented with a dilema. Do I address my highest spiritual self and my deepest passions by going to: 1) My Theater Group which is my acting class 2) Cosmic Om where I cherish my 4 hour medatations and satsang with Harishyam my meditation teacher or 3) go to Crystal Singing Bowls with Dominick at the ever so relaxing House of Intuition?
All of these options fall on the same night. Every Tuesday at the exact same time. Ironically a very fun comedy night also happens down the street at Pink Taco. Sometimes laughter and a margarita can be the best medicine, I believe this to be true although many of my die hard peers would disagree to the margarita... but to each his own.
That is the point of this Blog entry. Karmageddon to me, is the point when we are trying so hard to lift our "Spirits" to be the best we can be that our choices to achieve that become OVERWHELMING!! The point of all of the aforementioned meditating and healing and yoga-ing is to RELAX, to get in touch, to reach higher states of conciousness and to multipy our positivity and share it.
So many times I have heard people who stress out in the parking lot trying to get a space at Agape, or are rushing in traffic to get to yoga, or can't even go into their emails because they are bombarded with horoscopes, meet ups, and email flyers for retreats, classes, soulmate teleconfences etc.
Not to mention all these things can get expensive.
When you find yourself in the mist of Karmageddon, which I do every Tues, remember being spiritual is personal, its a choice not an obligation. Adding pressure to that which is meant to bring peace is completely a waste of energy. It is the opposite of the kind of energy you are trying TO generate.
When I choose Acting over meditation class I REMIND myself that acting to me is my meditation. It is my source of light. It is me at my highest.
If it's golfing that gets you to GOD go by ALL means GOLF!!! (I use God here as a term for what brings you joy, calm, peace, balance and brings you "home")
Life is already confusing, busy, demanding and draining, remember adding spirituality and growth into your life is meant to add positively not add pressure.
If you have to miss a yoga class or can't afford your membership this month...take an hour walk instead. Sit in your room and light a candle. Allowing yourself to stop and relax is FREE. We really never need a class or another person or teacher to get close to Source.
We need ourselves in a calm, unaffected space. We must MUST remember to nurture ourselves and REALLY LISTEN to what we need in each moment. Sometimes Yoga class is not the answer this week. Maybe watching Family Guy re-runs is!
All I am saying is don't get caught in Karmageddon. Be good to yourself, you're doing the best you can and what you really need you will find it and do it when the time is right.
As A Reiki Healer I say this with complete confidence. I may seem like I am saying you don't need me but on the contrary...when people stop and listen to what they deeply need everyone winds up where they belong, everyone wins and everyone is in a place of higher frequency.
So the next time you can't decide what to do with your night off or are pressuring yourself to get to a class on time or don't know if you should sign up for a retreat you don't know if you can afford....Ask yourself what would make you HAPPIEST and do it, then ABSOLUTELY do not judge yourself on the decision you make. Breath deep and realize you just made the healthiest choice possible.
Just for today do not worry, especially about what OTHERS think about YOU.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
SPIRITUAL GANGSTERS
Spiritual Gangster... I love it. I hope this term makes it into the Urban dictionary, if not Wikapedia.
It hasn't yet, and why? Perhaps because the term has not traveled outside a small group of spiritual "thugs" who consider themselves to be part of this unique tribe. I say this with an acute sence of humor and my infamous devilish, cheshire smile. I by no means use the term, Gangster or thug in any way to glorify those who commit crime, or violence.
I will be clear, all of us with an active ego should be aware of the" Gangster" nature lurking in our subconcious. Some of us feed into it daily: cursing like sailors in traffic, beating ourselves up about shoulda woulda couldas, numbing out by drinking, smoking, gambling, short fuses, arguments, white lies, self doubt, judgemnt, anxiety, worry, anger and the biggest one by entertaining any element of FEAR.
What does a gangster do? Invoke FEAR. What excites the Gangster? Any element of danger, wildness, darkness anything opposite of LIGHT.
Oh Yes, the Gangster is as alluring, badass and as rebellious as Johnny Cash in Black.
We are lured by the wild side, why because we each have our proverbial cross to bear. We each have our inner Gangster. Some say inner demon, I don't much like that word. Playfully we say...you got the devil in ya.
We are attracted to it like magnets. We love the Bad Boys and the Bad Girls. Why? What is that? It is because we IDENTIFY with it. No matter how good we aim to be eveything has a shadow. Good/Bad Light/ Dark Heaven/Hell... Spiritual/Gangster. I can almost hear Lana Del Rey's Gods and Monsters in the background.
It's a tale as old as time. Eve ate the apple, paradise lost, a fall from grace. Isn't that what we do on a daily basis when we chose negativity over positivity, we conciously can choose the path of paradise or distruction in every moment. We can be spiritual or a gangster. Most of us are by default, Spritiual Gangsters.
What is a Spiritual Gangster? If you are reading this, probably: Y.O.U.
We are all innately spiritual beings. Most wars are over Religion. The number one issue ironically preventing us from Peace on Earth is: Who is God?
We are spiritual beings searching for answers. We are spiritual no matter who or what we believe in because we strive to rise above struggle, poverty, heartbreak and difficulty and into freedom, safety, self acceptance and love. Kurt Cobain was not the only one on the path to Nirvana...we ALL are.
Deep down all we want is peace of mind, peace on earth. Something so simple is so far away and seemingly unattainable...enter the Gangster. The Gangster makes the simple into an elaborate scheme. To keep us guessing, to maintain a life filled with lessons, distractions and dark mysteries to solve. Why? Because we are "Spiritual Beings having a Human experience".
As Spirit we could maintain peace of mind peace on earth easily it is our true nature which we have simply forgotten.
So we have been given this gift "Ego" to perpetuate EXPERIENCE. Learning to see the light in the dark....find the light at the end of the tunnel. We are in the tunnel.
The Gangster is our human-ness our ego self, driving a wedge between who we strive to be and who tend to be at the grip of our ego.
The Gangster runs rampant in the streets of our spiritual highway. Guns loaded, ammo ready to drop bombs on our lofty thoughts to terrorize our minds with fear, doubt, worry, insecurity and indecision like a suicide bomber it will unleash its beast at the moment ultimate happiness is at our fingertips It is the ultimate sabatoger of our own good will.
The Gangster presents all kinds of temptation, all sorts of dark and cunning paths, cunning labrynths to steal you away from the light. The Gangster will lie, the Gangster will hide, the Gangster is a narccissist, selfish and wild, an arrogant fool. The ONLY way the Gangster survives is to create FEAR. Adrenline pumping though its center, it is so intense it can not be tamed. To kill the Gangster? Not if it can kill you first. This is Ego, the biggest, baddest Gangster of them all.
Let's get playful and LIGHT for a minute. Let's get back into the true SPIRIT of this blog entry. Where I first heard the term Spiritual Gangster and and why I love smashing these to dynamically radical and opposite words together...
Sex. Of course. Sex and Ego and Spirt, a divine manage a trois. Again she says with a devilish smile.
So, I first heard Spiritual Gangster from my friend Benny. He could be the head Gangster if there ever was one. He could be The Don, the King Spiritual Gangster of Spiritual Gangsterland.
He was describing the kind of guy I should be with or would be attracted to. He said. "Your man would have to be a Spiritual Gangster". I nodded and agian the cheshire grin, I agreed.
What he meant was a man deeply rooted in Spirituality, his sense of self being grounded and centered, strong and masculine but feminine enough to embrace Yoga, meditation, collective conciousnness, compassion, open minded and romantic BUT he would be Gangster in that he was wild, adventurous, slightly untamed, mischevious. He would have a dark quiet unrest and an alluring passion, a rebel with or with out a cause, someone rough around the edges with a gigantic heart and a blazing spirit, maybe he has a motorcycle and tattoos.
Yes! "Exactly".
Someone once told me if Jim Morrison was alive he'd be my Soulmate.
Jim Morrison=Spiritual Gangster. Are you starting to see it?
That's the aspect of the Spiritual Gangster that I EMBRACE. The aspect that made me want to start a clothing line called Spiritual Gangster ( only to find there already is one). Just because you do Yoga, Meditate, get energy healings, believe in Peace on Earth, Charity, Environmental Education, Greenpeace, NDRC, Animal Rights, Rebirthing, Chakra Balancing, Quantum Physics, Sacred Geometry, Angel Cards or whatever your into .....It does not make you a pussy, a sap, a hippie, a new age wierdo... it makes you AWARE, it makes you alive and part of an enormously growing movement and conciousness.
Some of the hottest, hipest, coolest people I know are Spirtual to the core. What you wear, the car you drive does not equate your spirituality quotent. Just because you meet a "hipster" don't assume they are not stiving to be spiritually aware. Or don't think a tattoed guy on a motorcycle doesn't meditate.
Don't be afraid to engage converstions with people by judging their outward appearance... people would never guess in a million years I was a Reiki Practitioner. I will say the majority of the people closest to me to this day are those who have come to me for a Reiki Healing because they see a SPIRITUAL side they never would have believed exisited and it was that part of me that they resonate with the most.
You choose this body. You choose this life as a spirit. You borrow it for an experience and the journey called, life. To have to highs the lows, the dark the light.
I'll never forget my first expereince at a Brian Kest Yoga class. I walked in to see a room full of tattooed ripped guys with six packs and some of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. It was intimidating at first. Then it clicked, it wasn't about that. It was a room full of people working on their INSIDES. Just because someone rides a Harley, drinks a beer, wears a mini skirt, listens to metal, has tatoos, loves sex, does not mean they are not connected to the light. Being spritual doesn't mean being cut off from self expression. It means excepting self in all it's variations. The part of this term Spiritual Gangster I embrace is be who you are. Your inner gangster (ego) makes you YOU, it drives your challenges, it makes you compassionate to other people.
There is another term that HAS made it into not the urban dictionary but Wikapedia itself. That is SPIRITUAL WARRIOR.
"The Spiritual Warrior has resolved to attain Buddhahood in order to liberate others. The one who combates the universal enemy: self ignorance. A Spiritual Warrior's path is compassionatley to help others with wisdom."
A Gangster is seeking Power. But it seeks power from the depths of darkness. From Fear. Just like Ego. Meglomanic behavior,. A Gangster has no remorse it is cunning, decieving and will hurt with out hesitation or remorse. Feed me feed me feed me or you Die. I die you die.
A Warrior fights for a cause, his or her own beliefs based on fairness, passion, pride, faith and a deep sense of self. Why are there many stories of warriors outnumberd in battle who win? It is a faith, light driven belief system that has no time for Ego driven fear. A Warrior fights when all other options are exhausted, and they do fight to the death. It is a fearlessness, what I believe I am worth is worth it all.
If we enter battle with this mentality against ego nature we have a fighting chance. Our Gangster nature can be brutal pushing us through our lives like a bull in a china shop, masking true feeling, contact and communication with distraction and lack of grace.
I probably will date my fair share of Spiritual Gangsters because of the thrill, and because of the parts of me that haven't healed enough yet...to know better...because I too am still a little Gangster.
What do I strive to become and who do I strive to love? A Spiritual Warrior.
A Warrior is just as cool, just as strong, just as wild as a Gangster...I just imagine the internal dialog to be a bit different. Gangster, Warrior...wherever you are at, be you... strive to grow to be uniquely you and enjoy the ride.
It hasn't yet, and why? Perhaps because the term has not traveled outside a small group of spiritual "thugs" who consider themselves to be part of this unique tribe. I say this with an acute sence of humor and my infamous devilish, cheshire smile. I by no means use the term, Gangster or thug in any way to glorify those who commit crime, or violence.
I will be clear, all of us with an active ego should be aware of the" Gangster" nature lurking in our subconcious. Some of us feed into it daily: cursing like sailors in traffic, beating ourselves up about shoulda woulda couldas, numbing out by drinking, smoking, gambling, short fuses, arguments, white lies, self doubt, judgemnt, anxiety, worry, anger and the biggest one by entertaining any element of FEAR.
What does a gangster do? Invoke FEAR. What excites the Gangster? Any element of danger, wildness, darkness anything opposite of LIGHT.
Oh Yes, the Gangster is as alluring, badass and as rebellious as Johnny Cash in Black.
We are lured by the wild side, why because we each have our proverbial cross to bear. We each have our inner Gangster. Some say inner demon, I don't much like that word. Playfully we say...you got the devil in ya.
We are attracted to it like magnets. We love the Bad Boys and the Bad Girls. Why? What is that? It is because we IDENTIFY with it. No matter how good we aim to be eveything has a shadow. Good/Bad Light/ Dark Heaven/Hell... Spiritual/Gangster. I can almost hear Lana Del Rey's Gods and Monsters in the background.
It's a tale as old as time. Eve ate the apple, paradise lost, a fall from grace. Isn't that what we do on a daily basis when we chose negativity over positivity, we conciously can choose the path of paradise or distruction in every moment. We can be spiritual or a gangster. Most of us are by default, Spritiual Gangsters.
What is a Spiritual Gangster? If you are reading this, probably: Y.O.U.
We are all innately spiritual beings. Most wars are over Religion. The number one issue ironically preventing us from Peace on Earth is: Who is God?
We are spiritual beings searching for answers. We are spiritual no matter who or what we believe in because we strive to rise above struggle, poverty, heartbreak and difficulty and into freedom, safety, self acceptance and love. Kurt Cobain was not the only one on the path to Nirvana...we ALL are.
Deep down all we want is peace of mind, peace on earth. Something so simple is so far away and seemingly unattainable...enter the Gangster. The Gangster makes the simple into an elaborate scheme. To keep us guessing, to maintain a life filled with lessons, distractions and dark mysteries to solve. Why? Because we are "Spiritual Beings having a Human experience".
As Spirit we could maintain peace of mind peace on earth easily it is our true nature which we have simply forgotten.
So we have been given this gift "Ego" to perpetuate EXPERIENCE. Learning to see the light in the dark....find the light at the end of the tunnel. We are in the tunnel.
The Gangster is our human-ness our ego self, driving a wedge between who we strive to be and who tend to be at the grip of our ego.
The Gangster runs rampant in the streets of our spiritual highway. Guns loaded, ammo ready to drop bombs on our lofty thoughts to terrorize our minds with fear, doubt, worry, insecurity and indecision like a suicide bomber it will unleash its beast at the moment ultimate happiness is at our fingertips It is the ultimate sabatoger of our own good will.
The Gangster presents all kinds of temptation, all sorts of dark and cunning paths, cunning labrynths to steal you away from the light. The Gangster will lie, the Gangster will hide, the Gangster is a narccissist, selfish and wild, an arrogant fool. The ONLY way the Gangster survives is to create FEAR. Adrenline pumping though its center, it is so intense it can not be tamed. To kill the Gangster? Not if it can kill you first. This is Ego, the biggest, baddest Gangster of them all.
Let's get playful and LIGHT for a minute. Let's get back into the true SPIRIT of this blog entry. Where I first heard the term Spiritual Gangster and and why I love smashing these to dynamically radical and opposite words together...
Sex. Of course. Sex and Ego and Spirt, a divine manage a trois. Again she says with a devilish smile.
So, I first heard Spiritual Gangster from my friend Benny. He could be the head Gangster if there ever was one. He could be The Don, the King Spiritual Gangster of Spiritual Gangsterland.
He was describing the kind of guy I should be with or would be attracted to. He said. "Your man would have to be a Spiritual Gangster". I nodded and agian the cheshire grin, I agreed.
What he meant was a man deeply rooted in Spirituality, his sense of self being grounded and centered, strong and masculine but feminine enough to embrace Yoga, meditation, collective conciousnness, compassion, open minded and romantic BUT he would be Gangster in that he was wild, adventurous, slightly untamed, mischevious. He would have a dark quiet unrest and an alluring passion, a rebel with or with out a cause, someone rough around the edges with a gigantic heart and a blazing spirit, maybe he has a motorcycle and tattoos.
Yes! "Exactly".
Someone once told me if Jim Morrison was alive he'd be my Soulmate.
Jim Morrison=Spiritual Gangster. Are you starting to see it?
That's the aspect of the Spiritual Gangster that I EMBRACE. The aspect that made me want to start a clothing line called Spiritual Gangster ( only to find there already is one). Just because you do Yoga, Meditate, get energy healings, believe in Peace on Earth, Charity, Environmental Education, Greenpeace, NDRC, Animal Rights, Rebirthing, Chakra Balancing, Quantum Physics, Sacred Geometry, Angel Cards or whatever your into .....It does not make you a pussy, a sap, a hippie, a new age wierdo... it makes you AWARE, it makes you alive and part of an enormously growing movement and conciousness.
Some of the hottest, hipest, coolest people I know are Spirtual to the core. What you wear, the car you drive does not equate your spirituality quotent. Just because you meet a "hipster" don't assume they are not stiving to be spiritually aware. Or don't think a tattoed guy on a motorcycle doesn't meditate.
Don't be afraid to engage converstions with people by judging their outward appearance... people would never guess in a million years I was a Reiki Practitioner. I will say the majority of the people closest to me to this day are those who have come to me for a Reiki Healing because they see a SPIRITUAL side they never would have believed exisited and it was that part of me that they resonate with the most.
You choose this body. You choose this life as a spirit. You borrow it for an experience and the journey called, life. To have to highs the lows, the dark the light.
I'll never forget my first expereince at a Brian Kest Yoga class. I walked in to see a room full of tattooed ripped guys with six packs and some of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. It was intimidating at first. Then it clicked, it wasn't about that. It was a room full of people working on their INSIDES. Just because someone rides a Harley, drinks a beer, wears a mini skirt, listens to metal, has tatoos, loves sex, does not mean they are not connected to the light. Being spritual doesn't mean being cut off from self expression. It means excepting self in all it's variations. The part of this term Spiritual Gangster I embrace is be who you are. Your inner gangster (ego) makes you YOU, it drives your challenges, it makes you compassionate to other people.
There is another term that HAS made it into not the urban dictionary but Wikapedia itself. That is SPIRITUAL WARRIOR.
"The Spiritual Warrior has resolved to attain Buddhahood in order to liberate others. The one who combates the universal enemy: self ignorance. A Spiritual Warrior's path is compassionatley to help others with wisdom."
A Gangster is seeking Power. But it seeks power from the depths of darkness. From Fear. Just like Ego. Meglomanic behavior,. A Gangster has no remorse it is cunning, decieving and will hurt with out hesitation or remorse. Feed me feed me feed me or you Die. I die you die.
A Warrior fights for a cause, his or her own beliefs based on fairness, passion, pride, faith and a deep sense of self. Why are there many stories of warriors outnumberd in battle who win? It is a faith, light driven belief system that has no time for Ego driven fear. A Warrior fights when all other options are exhausted, and they do fight to the death. It is a fearlessness, what I believe I am worth is worth it all.
If we enter battle with this mentality against ego nature we have a fighting chance. Our Gangster nature can be brutal pushing us through our lives like a bull in a china shop, masking true feeling, contact and communication with distraction and lack of grace.
I probably will date my fair share of Spiritual Gangsters because of the thrill, and because of the parts of me that haven't healed enough yet...to know better...because I too am still a little Gangster.
What do I strive to become and who do I strive to love? A Spiritual Warrior.
A Warrior is just as cool, just as strong, just as wild as a Gangster...I just imagine the internal dialog to be a bit different. Gangster, Warrior...wherever you are at, be you... strive to grow to be uniquely you and enjoy the ride.
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