Put Your Mask On First

I’m sure you’ve all heard the longstanding example that’s been articulated when trying to convey the importance of taking care of yourself first before you can take care of others. This analogy refers to the in-flight safety checklist performed by flight attendants prior to the take-off of a commercial airline. Included in the explanations of how to fasten your seatbelt and how in the event of landing in water the seat cushion can be used as a flotation device, is the explanation of how to use the emergency oxygen mask. It basically goes like this…“In the event of a sudden change in cabin pressure while the flight is in progress, an emergency oxygen mask will be deployed from the ceiling of all passenger seats. If you are traveling with special needs passengers or small children, please be sure to put your mask on first before assisting with the needs of others…” I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the gist of the instruction. You have to take care of your needs first (so as not to pass out due to lack of oxygen) before helping anyone else with their needs. This in-flight safety example has multiple meanings and has served many a motivational speaker in illustrating the proper progression of directed focus one should use in order to be most effective for themselves and others.

I use this well-worn analogy here because in my own personal life, I have come to realize that this poignant example has an even greater level of spiritual importance than even the obvious parallels would suggest. It speaks directly to a spiritual sequence of events that must take place before any measurable success can be attained in our personal quest for spiritual enlightenment and the manifestational creation of love and abundance in our lives. You see, it’s all about building a strong foundation; the cornerstone of which is self-love. Before any of that other (woo-woo) spiritual stuff can even begin to work, you must first start with a clean spiritual pallet of unconditional self-love. You must first learn to love yourself unconditionally before you can be a conscious co-worker and channel for Source.

As I said, this serves as the foundation…the cornerstone for everything else that you do spiritually in order to have the greatest impact. Think of it this way. You may be going through the proper motions of exercising the laws of attraction and abundance in your life, but if this manifestation is being performed in an internally toxic vessel of fear, worry, and a compromised self-esteem, what do you think will be the outcome; what do you think will out-picture? If these attempts at enlightenment and abundance are being performed in a womb of self-loathing or thinking yourself unworthy, then you are merely sabotaging any attempts at success you may be trying to attain. Another way of looking at this is when you are living from this lower vibrational state of consciousness, you are spiritually misaligned, and subsequently offline. Remember this simple truth, YOU ARE GOD; God is love, therefore you are love. There is no separation because you are Source itself. The feeling of separation is merely an illusion. Begin to express within yourself that you love yourself unconditionally, regardless of whatever you may have screwed up yesterday or an hour ago. Your love of self is not and should not at any time be based on any external reason or excuse (or internal for that matter).

It’s all about choice. You have a 50/50 choice to decide how you want to feel about yourself. You see, what is implicit in this argument but rarely articulated verbally is that by not exercising unconditional love, by default you are practicing a form of unconditional self-loathing. Can you imagine saying an affirmation like that out loud? “I hate myself unconditionally.” Well, you may not be saying this outwardly but this is certainly the energy that we all too often give ourselves while trying to go about our day-to-day existence. THIS MUST CEASE.

So now, let’s assert a new affirmation. Repeat after me, “I am God, …and God is me. I love myself unconditionally.” See, it even rhymes! Repeat this over and over again until you actually start to feel the love building up inside of you like a warm nurturing flame. It is Source love reconnecting and filling in the spaces. When you do this, you are aligning your consciousness with your higher self and with Source. This is the foundation, the strong and essential foundation (like building a sturdy home) that forms the basis for everything else we try to manifest in our lives using the spiritual principles. It’s all about the proper sequence. You have to fuel the inner tank with pristine love first before driving the wonderful spiritual vehicle that is you.

When you live from this center point, there is no fear in the equation. When you live from this consciousness, you become the glowing conduit of love that Source needs and requires in order to light up the world around you. So put your mask on first; love yourself unconditionally first. Feel the power of a conscious recognition that you are of Source. Then go about doing what Source does, creating universes. Happy manifesting everyone!

Spirituality and Elbow Grease

Creating your universe in accordance with both your individual state of consciousness and sincere intention requires a combination of spiritual energy and personal effort. The formula is not that difficult to understand or even execute, but takes a certain level of discipline, consistency and daily focus that some of us may or may not be willing to exert. This is of course your choice as to whether or not to be an active participant in your own manifestation, but what must be made clear is that something will manifest, whether you are conscious of it or not; ignorance or lack of effort is not an excuse. So it seems to me (and this is just my 2¢ worth) that you might as well be an active and aware part of your own manifestational existence and experience. Again, it is not rocket science in understanding the how’s and what’s of the process. Certainly there are a myriad of books on the subject pertaining to manifesting things in your life. But one of the things that often get lost in these instructions is the importance of right-thought followed by right-action, a combination of spirituality and elbow grease. This is when the rubber meets the road.

Are you doing everything within your sphere of influence and power to move yourself closer to your goals? Are you acting on all that the cosmos is giving you on a daily basis? Are you aware and receptive to Spirit’s nudges, golden-tongued wisdom and waking dreams that are a part of our everyday experience? Are you consciously aware of the miracles that take place all around you everyday? If not, then you need to take a step back and get yourself in spiritual balance so as to be awake and aware of all of the inner, intuitive energies taking place around you, and tune yourself to these frequencies so you can better read the tea leaves. This is accomplished through regular meditation and contemplation exercises, many of which are shown on the Ato1 Health and Wellness page. Once grounded and tuned in, it is important to do the daily work, the elbow grease necessary to act on impulses and nudges from spirit that are designed to move you closer to your goals, whatever they may be. Once done, you “let go and let God”, as the saying goes. Spirit is an omniscient, intelligent force, and knows vastly more than you could ever comprehend in terms of getting you closer to where you wish to be. You simply need to trust it and allow it to bring you closer without any preconceived notions of how to get there; stop being a control freak. Several options may come your way in the process, all having the potential of getting you where you need to be, but none necessarily containing the prescription of absolute certainty. Therefore, you must act on all of them, not just the ones you like more than others; you simply don’t know enough. As you practice this process more and more, you will begin to trust what is being told to you and feel a certain level of protection and guidance that you may not have been aware of before. This is a good thing and should be nurtured, developed and appreciated. Spirit wants you to succeed.

We are in a time now where the cosmic energies are much more refined and powerful, and the cause and effect relationship of our thoughts becoming things seem to be much shorter in duration. As such, this mental discipline becomes even more important to refine, for we want to make sure that we do not create the things we fear the most, but create our universe based on the energies of love and abundance. In the final analysis, the “things” that you attain through these exercises are not really what's important at all. What is important is your ability to trust in and understand the process of attainment itself. Remember, you are all Masters in training; celestial beings preparing yourself for eternity's call-of-service as co-workers with All That Is. The most important thing to understand throughout this entire process is that the skills you are refining are skills you have always had, for you are not learning anything but remembering what you already know. Our course of attainment and existence is, in the final analysis, one of validation through experience of truth already attained. Source, all knowing and all seeing, experiences life through us, for we are IT and IT is us. We Are One. So roll up your sleeves and get cracking; creation awaits.

Keep the Focus on the Goal

The movement and momentum towards enlightened consciousness on a mass scale continues. The old paradigm of fear-based thinking is falling away and a new more love-centric, connected awareness is flowing through more and more awakened Souls with every passing day. In addition, our collective ability to create our own realities through the laws of attraction is occurring with much greater fluidity. With it, directed energies of personal manifestation and creation are taking place at a much faster rate, allowing people to see more and more the cause and affect relationship of their thoughts becoming things. This growing transition caused by the continual vibratory increase from 3rd to 4th and higher density brings with it a much more heightened awareness of conscious intention. It also brings with it great responsibility. I have spoken many times about the importance of practicing mental discipline towards the things we think and attitudes we hold. As we ascend into the higher vibrations of creational energy, our increased ability to manifest things in our lives whether desired or not, becomes more prevalent. For this reason, it is essential that we all consciously adopt the practice of keeping our focus on the goal, and not the problem.

As mentioned before, thoughts are things. They project out into the ethers connecting to similar vibrations, soon returning to us for the sole purpose of providing opportunity. On an individual basis this is important to understand because of a habitual tendency by many to fixate on worry and fear. When we constantly worry about something we are giving energy to that worry. In essence, we are helping to manifest the very thing that we do not want. Understand that manifestational energy is a neutral force. It does not matter what directive we give it. Its only intention is to manifest what we project. So in essence, if we focus on the problem, we give energy to that problem. Better to focus on the goal or solution to the problem (or challenge), without concerning yourself with the micro-managed details of how this solution will come about. Remember, you do not know enough, but Source is omniscient and able to connect the dots in ways that you would never have even contemplated. By keeping ones focus on the goal, it ensures that the directional energy is going towards positive intent and outcome. This is how miracles happen everyday.

As this illustration is important from an individual perspective, even more important is the consideration of this projection of energy from a mass consciousness point of view. As I have said before, we are all connected; we are all One. As such, we not only create things from an individual perspective, but also from a mass consciousness perspective. If we accept hate and anger on a mass scale as our focus of attention, this energy is magnified on an exponential level and the out-pictured result is often one of mass pain and suffering. If we are fed a continual diet of fear, such as what many people have been dealing with in these challenging economic, militaristic, and environmental times, this energy can become a self-perpetuating cycle of anguish and despair. But we do have a choice. Remember this well; the greatest power that you wield is the power to decide what it is you choose to place your attention on. So we have a definitive choice moving forward, regardless of what outside circumstances might try to project on us. We can either choose to continue living in a victim’s mentality where we have no control of our fate or destiny, or we can choose to hold love and abundance in our hearts and minds, not knowing exactly how it will manifest, but knowing that by virtue of the laws of attraction, if you focus your attention on it, it has to manifest. This is the consciousness of the enlightened Soul. Love is at the center of the heart.

As we continue to exercise this awareness, it is equally important to understand how we should frame our manifestations. A perfect example of this is a quote given by Mother Teresa, where she talked about participating in anti-war efforts. She said, "I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there." Notice the juxtaposition of the phrase “anti-war” vs. “pro-peace”. This is an incredibly important nuanced shift in perspective. Anti-war focuses on the problem, pro-peace focuses on the goal. Another more amusing version of this same perspective comes from the late comedian George Carlin when he said, "Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity." You get the point.

So we individually and collectively hold the key to our fate. This key is in our minds and in our hearts. It is in our conscious awareness and awakening to who and what we are as Soul, and with it a conscious decision to no longer accept fear as our focus, but embrace love for the world and all of its inhabitance. I would urge each and every one of you reading this to practice becoming a beacon of love energy on a daily basis; to practice abundance in your life regardless of outer conditions; to practice sending love into the world and in all directions, touching everything and everyone. If more and more people consciously exercise this Divine power within each of us, we can collectively change the world from the inside out. Now more than ever is the time that we put this energy in motion. With the growing intensity of dimensional energy at our disposal, the changes will become swift and noticeable. It is happening already but we need more and more conscious Souls to exercise this love energy everyday. By doing so, we become a part of the solution, and no longer a part of the problem. Keep the focus on the goal. Be the solution.