Frustration: The Distant Cousin of Expectation

by Rev. Amari Magdalena

Frustration is defined as the prevention of a progress, success or the fulfillment of something. The last week has been personally very frustrating as I dealt with publishing my newest book.  I’d not used this publisher’s platform before (they shall remain unnamed).  Thinking I had finally mastered how to use it, I blithely ordered a proof copy of the book. No problem it seemed; everything looked fine. Progressed to the final step and hit the wall of rules!  It seems that while my proof copy was capable of printing on the spine; the finished copy could not as it required a certain minimum of pages. My tome was short 17 pages.

Frustration raised its irritable head while I fumed a bit and had multiple conversations with the publisher.  The plot thickened as, at one point, they mixed up the new book with an old one. My new book disappeared!  Almost in tears at this point, I had to retreat a bit an investigate why I was feeling this way.

And, then it struck me, Expectation!  How very often, knowingly or subliminally, we engage a process with the expectation that all will go well.  Often that supposition works rather well.  We able to manifest after our heart’s desire. Sometimes there is cosmic interference. When Plan A is thwarted frustration does a little hoochie-coochie dance with the expectation.  I suspect she was laughing at me rather gleefully.

After all the gesticulating, posturing, swearing, wringing of hands, and table pounding subside, one must deal with the limitation imposed. Took some time for me to blather out, “It is what it is.” In my plans, the one the Gods make fools of us over, I had perfect timing in mind.  The numbers all lined up beautifully.  Every step of the way, master numbers prevailed.

Oh, the cosmic joke of it all!  Humor is the only ultimate salvation when we get too far down the slippery slope of frustration.  That, or go over the edge.  And, then, one must assess their demands on the Universe and surrender to Universal timing. Ah, the letting go thing!  At some point in the scenario of our not getting what we expected, there comes a moment when we have to push off the edge in the current that is flowing  It may not be the direction we’d mapped out, though it is most definitely is the course this river is taking.

So this finds me at the eleventh hour waiting for the cosmic nod, knowing that it will most definitely come.  As always, there is a reason and usually it is for my highest good.  Pumping out another 18 pages, one extra just to spite them, I was able to add value at the direction of my inner muse. Ultimately, it is a better book for it.

Tomorrow, or the next day, or even next week, I will be guided to push the “publish” button with the confidence that it is the right time.  As I instruct in the book, I will stop breath holding and breathe deeply.  So next time frustration comes your way, perhaps you may draw a little wisdom from this tome and STOP! Trust the Universe; trust yourself.  When it is time, when we quite trying to paddle against the current, we free up flow and the Universe will carry us to the fulfillment of our dreams.

The Blue Iris represents hope whose wisdom I commit to follow now!

“At times it is folly to hasten, at other times, to delay. The wise do everything in its proper order.”  Ovid

"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion.  I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning to do afterward." Kurt Vonnegut

What Our Bodies Are Telling Us

By Rev. Amari Magdalena

We get sick or have an injury at different times in our lives.  In youth, we often more physically resilient and easily overcome.  As decades cascade over the waters of our lives, recovery capacity changes.  Most of us, I believe, feel we are much younger than our biological ages.  We may look in the mirror in amazement at the aging person viewed yet are content that inside we know we are much younger than that silly reflection.  Denial has a way of eventually catching up with us.

Some of the illusion may be OK.  I’ve been told for years that I look younger than my true chronological age.  Flattering that can be.  Enough ‘cover-up’ and we’d all look a bit more youthful.  Heaven knows the media slathers us with potions promising eternal youth in massive doses daily.  Even science tells us our cells are being made new all the time.  We are encouraged to deny the very process of generation, degeneration and regeneration.  So my question is, why then are we aging?”

I posit this question as I’ve faced a Winter of My Discontent with repetitive injuries and illnesses. Not in my plan, I think.  How inconvenient!  As I am forced to cancel event after event and absent myself from the general populace, I lift my head and shout, “ WHY!?!”  What genetic trickster is at play in my life that is impeding my good health?

Now I can hear, “it’s all in your head!”  This is followed by, “stinkin thinkin.”  And, I get it that our minds DO indeed have an impact over our overall health.  Yet, physical plan in all the kingdoms that I have observed, includes birth, acceleration, decline and death.  Doesn’t seem to be any escape. So my greater question, is what our bodies are telling us.

My message of several years has been, “slow down”.  Now it appears to be” slow the f…… down.”  Seems to be the “Upside Your Big Head” Cosmic whack that is informing me that the days of adrenal overdrive are over. My inner drive for accomplishment was early on cemented in my consciousness by parents who wanted “A” report cards brought home.  Now those folks are long gone yet their message lingers. 

So what is the pain, loss of mobility and breathing issues about, I ask myself?  Metaphysically they represent certain truths.  As you might also ask yourself when confronted by lingering health issues.  When I’m willing to take time for the answers, they are plain.  Pain signifies that something isn’t resonating-place, people, circumstances, economics, etc. Mobility, easy peasy, slow down.  Breathing a bit more complicated but knowable; feeling contracted, not expansive.

Physically there are also answers, if I care to listen.  Pain, stress simply stated.  Mobility, long list of injuries from activities not suited to my physicality. Breathing, growing up in a world of heavy smokers.  The latter most affected my late sister and me.  Everyone in our world smoked.  Finally, the body, like any vehicle with a lot of miles on it, wears out.  Some parts are replaceable; some not.

Emotionally, the answers may come from more past release work.  I’ve for many years felt that those of us with problematic childhoods have dragged a hidden ball and chain through life.  At times, we’ve perhaps cut off part of the chain or shortened it, yet it’s still there.  Energetically we still hold past experiences.  Many are saying we also hold DNA of the ancestors.  Many tools are available for finally cutting through the chain and tossing the heavy ball back into the nothingness from which it came.   Soul Retrieval, Past Life Regression, Body Work, to name a few are currently available.  Not affordable?  Barter. I admitted to my youngest son recently, that I still have cords to cut.

The ultimate answers for me, and perhaps you, are to LISTEN.  Stop pushing the envelope, start giving yourself breathing room, quit trying to prove yourself and your worth, maybe just enjoy the process of being-in all states of living. Get help if necessary. Return to those things that make you happy.  Trust yourself to find your more perfect place to live. Before it is too late, embrace BEING and surrender DOING!  And, importantly, thank this body for the journey!

What concepts!  Am I ready?  Are you?  It’s a pretty short ride all told, wouldn’t it be better to enjoy it and quit trying to navigate rapids?  I’d declared that my goals in life are now Ease and Grace.  Must be time to manifest those wonderful intentions!!

"It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting here right now...with its aches and it's pleasures...is exactly what we need to be fully  human, fully awake, fully alive." Pema Chodron

"I finally realized that being grateful to my body was key to giving more love to myself." Oprah Winfrey

Perspective

By Rev. Amari Magdalena

There was a wonderful share the other day on Facebook about perspective.  It got me thinking about just how relevant perspective is to our state of mind and contentment in life. For many of us, particularly those living alone, it is easy to lose perspective when we encounter the bumps and detours that life presents; no one to bounce things off of.  For others even living with others, perspective can be skewed.  All of us are, at times, fairly insular in our world view; we are the center of our universe.

When our small universe presents challenges of body, mind or spirit, we often fall into feeling sorry for ourselves with the accompanying pity party.  At times, we choose to wallow in the suffering that we are experiencing.  Some choose to isolate themselves at times like this; others broadcast it through their downtrodden energy.

It strikes me that what is needed are new filters through which to view challenges, bumps and detours. We might liken this to using a camera.  Some people are more adept with the instrument; others not.

What is clear to me is that we each have an internal camera, along with our external one (our eyes).  To a certain degree, we simply take a picture of what we see with your eyes.  Yet through processing or developing the picture our internal camera tweaks the picture: in modern terms, we might say we Photoshop it.  That internal processing is very unique and determined to a great extent by our life experiences and cultural inculcation.

Additionally, we seem to have a propensity to repeat the very same processing method we've previously used for similar pictures.  We are on a form of auto-pilot with those. This can be time-saving yet may also represent a sort of blindness.  Perhaps we do this repeat procedure to save time; perhaps it is simply habit.

If we continue to process pictures on auto-play or pilot we are not considering the present moment, circumstances, and presentation before us.  This creates a lot of views that may be outdated or distorted.  The distortion effect may lead to misunderstanding, prejudice, assumption, and limited thinking.

We could apply this to the events in our own lives or to our perception of events unfolding before us in the lives of others or the world.  Truth may go begging when our camera lens is clouded or fractured.  Recognizing any distortion by running our perceptions through a new truth filter may be of great value.  Asking or questioning ourselves, when we find ourselves making judgments about a person or circumstances, may help us discover new truths.

In my own life when I question negative thinking, I often ask, "Is this true today?
Are the feelings or thoughts or perceptions I am experiencing based in what is presently before me or some half truth from another time and place?  This helps me greatly in clearing my filter and perhaps coming up with new ways to view what my camera is focusing on.

The quote below sums up my thinking on this subject.  One can just as easily apply it to "when watching yourself and your reactions...."  I believe that we can choose to change our perceptions through highly focused awareness and commitment to re-viewing all that is within our scope; especially when it is causing us any angst or unhappiness. 

The choice to see heaven or hell each day is ours alone.  No external force can manipulate our inner camera, truly.  We alone can "Windex" our perceptions and click on a focus that creates greater happiness and contentment.

“…and so it is with life.  What we see when watching others depends on the clarity of the Window through which we look.”  

[53 Past Blogs are in my book "Shaman Talk" available in softcover and ebook on Amazon.com]