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Learning to Listen

November 26, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Learning to Listen

 
“Fully absorbed, graciously witnessing, or open and spacious
—which of these lenses is the best way to practice awareness? 
Is there an optimal way to pay attention? The answer is ‘all of the above.'” 
~ jack kornfield
 
While walking in the woods I gave way to the moment and opened up my mind and my heart to allow whatever wanted to come forward to do so. Can you tell I have been doing work with RECEIVING?
 
So what came darting into my focus? “MAGENTA!” No, I didn’t see it. I felt it. I felt the idea of MAGENTA and all the ideas I hold around it. They zoomed like a swarm of kamikaze bumble bees into my awareness. It was not scary or painful, but it was fast, strong and immediate.
 
And as ribbons of fallen leaves crunched below my feet, it’s deeper meaning elegantly began to unfold for me. 
 
I am a painter. MAGENTA is a color I make by mixing a fair amount of red with a tiny bit of a blue. It is also one of my two favorite colors (the other being orange, by which I was, incidentally, being engulfed in this autumnal wood.) And MAGENTA’s components, red and blue, signify the root and third-eye chakras in our energy-bodies. 
 
The ROOT Chakra is found at the base of the spine and there lives our subtle sense of well being. We feel grounded and safe when this energy is not shaken or blocked. It’s vibration is slow and it’s color is red. 
 
The THIRD EYE Chakra vibration is blue. It is located in the space between the eyebrows. It moves faster and is an aperture to a vast reservoir known as intuition or consciousness.
 
Gleaning all I know, which really is not a lot, I came to understand –  in an instant – to welcome change. All at once I felt relief. And I knew it was my Truth because I recall the lightness and warmth that attended this knowing.  I was completely joy-filled and my whole body smiled.
 
I am sure I am not alone in feeling knocked off center by change. But simultaneously, I understood that adding even just a little blue (consciousness) to new conditions will be enough to cause things to shift. I was being clearly informed that change expands us and is always a favorable thing. MAGENTA was my message to enjoy, like a favorite color, newness and to welcome it with wonder and without fear. 
 
These words, by the way, were not part of my original meditation. All these words are in the rearview mirror of that experience. I write these words now to remind myself and to make manifest more of the same good feelings of relief and excitement.
 
And perhaps they will remind you too? Perhaps you will feel invited to reach toward your own inner guidance system? Like mine, it is embedded within. But unlike mine, the way you access it will be of your own organic choosing. It is for sure just waiting for you. Waiting for you to decide 
 
to be silent,
 
to be open,
 
and to listen.
 
Are you ready to be more connected?
 
Tag. You’re It!

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Lani received a B.F.A from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1986 and earned a B.A in Art Education from NCCU in 2000.
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