The sea within!

I watched a documentary not so long ago and it got me thinking about it's meaning. It was based on an ancient Icelandic word InnSaei which has a threefold meaning, the sea within (emotions), to see within (awareness) and those potentially bring us to action, perhaps it is to change our old patterns and surrender to a Higher power. This is to see within our sea of emotions. I noticed how it was present in many teachings across many cultures.

We all have a sea within us. The emotional landscape of who we are and what we feel. The deep darkness and shadows of those feelings and the light softness of it.

"Unless you know the basic mechanics behind the workings of the ego,

you won't recognize it,

and it will trick you into identifying with it again and again.

This means it takes you over,

an imposter pretending to be you."

- Eckhart Tolle -

How do we navigate the deep, shadowy emotions that come up?

Here is a simple yet powerful meditation:

In sanskrit there are two words "so & hum" which means I am s/he/That. It is also a naturally occurring sound in your in-breath (so) and out-breath (hum). During meditation if we concentrate on "so hum" then we are really saying two things “I am That” and we are listening in to our breath and breathing and hearing the sound of our own voice, to bring clarity to our thoughts and action.

A Lighthouse illuminating the way both internally and externally.

The three fold meaning to me seems to express these ideas:

The sea within, just like the sea it has no boundaries, it can mold and shape itself to feelings, emotions and thoughts beyond our words. It is remarkable just what our internal sea (emotions) holds, how deep it is in some places and shallow in others.

" Enlightenment is when the wave realized that it is the ocean

The wave does not need to die to become water. She is already water"

- Thich Nhat Hanh -

Our emotions have the potential to waylay even our best intentions and we can get so caught up in what our emotions tell us that we are feeling, that often we identify with these emotions and think that they are who we are. What I have learned through my work in the Enneagram is that our emotions are not who we are. Who we are is neutral, it is not made up of extreme emotions or emotions of any kind, it remains it's own Essence, in equilibrium. This in itself is a constant journey for us as human beings, how do we come back to our essence and not get swept away by the sea of our emotions. For some this can relate to the constant over thinking and analyzing of our actions, the churning and re-churning of "I should have, I could have or if only and the internal critical dialogue.

To see within, which to me means to have awareness of yourself, to notice. To put yourself in someone else's shoes. To feel empathy and compassion for yourself and others. To stop before we judge and place ourselves in their place. Through Family Constellations therapy I have learned that no one is to blame, we are all doing the best we know how and there are generations upon generations who have experienced suffering and that in turn, unknowingly gets passed down.

So to stop take a deep breath, hold and then release very slowly and see within, then ask ourselves what is triggering a reaction in me?

Then move our awareness into ourselves and ask ourselves; what does my reaction mean?

Awareness is a healthy step to bringing change to our old patterns of behaving and thinking. Sometimes our awareness can be enough to change and choose another way.

To see from the inside out, Ultimately it means trusting the power of our own intuition. Each of us possesses our own inner compass and when we become aware of its power it is like a lighthouse signaling and showing us the way. It takes practice to listen to our intuition because we have learned to stop listening to our own wisdom in exchange for the perceived wisdom of what others think is best for us. So to journey back to our own intuition can feel like a long and windy road. Sometimes it helps to learn to use some tools to help us in this quest. I teach a workshop called awaken your intuition which is about coming back to listening to our own guidance. If you are interested in learning more about this workshop contact me for upcoming dates: hemla@7raysholisticcenter.com

There are many teachers who believe in (muscle testing) or kinesiology as a way of listening to our bodies. This technique of learning to listen to our bodies involve a mental and physical listening. Quantum Energetix is another way in which we can begin to listen to our bodies that we may have fallen asleep to, abused, ignored or pushed in unhealthy ways. This brings me to my question:

What if we learned to re-listen to that part of us?

I had no idea just how meaningful the tag line that chose me was!! What is teaches me is to do this in myself - Awaken the Power within You(Me)! ", to me, this translates to awaken to the sea within and listen to my intuition.

I read this quote from Eckhart Tolle and I felt it really spoke about seeing from the inside out.

" Through allowing,

you become what you are:

vast, spacious,

You become whole.

You are not a fragment anymore,

which is how the ego perceives itself.

Your true nature emerges,

which is one with the nature of God."

Happy deep sea/see diving,

Very Warmly

Hemla