Be a Lake

Be A Lake  (Source Unknown)

The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.
"How does it taste?" the Masterasked.
"Awful," spat the apprentice

The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake.

The two walked in silence to the nearby lake
and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake,
the old man said, "Now drink from the lake

As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master asked,
"How does it taste?"
"Good!" remarked the apprentice.
"Do you taste the salt?"  asked the Master.
"No," said the young man.

The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said,

"The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less.
The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same.

But the amount we taste the 'pain'
depends on the container we put it into.

So when you are in pain, the
only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things .....

Stop being a glass.

                                          Become a lake!

Day 89 Why Study Shamanism?

This is probably the most common question asked today. And you know why so many people ask it? Because we are brought up in a society that does not have Shamanism. Worse than that, we are brought up without community. In the old days we were raised with a strong community around us. We lived together, played together, grew up together and sometimes even died together. We had elders and doctors and teachers and medical advisors right within this strong close knit community.

Part of the work for Shaman elders would be to watch the children and find what each child was strong in. Then that gift or gifts were encouraged and the child grew into whatever came naturally to him or her. It was the community, the elders, the teachers, and the parents who realized the blessings and were happy to help the child be what he or she was meant to be in life.

Today we have no such possibility for ourselves or for our children. For the most part, we are raised to fit into a box; to learn what everyone else learns and to ignore or abandon anything that does not fit into society’s box. It doesn’t have to be this way. We have a choice. It is not too late to look inside and find those special gifts we were born with by studying Traditional Shamanism.

Each of us has one or more gifts buried somewhere inside our spirits. Can you imagine how beautiful this world would be if each of us studied and mastered the gifts we were given? Who would be left sick? Or poor?

Shaman Elder Maggie Wahls is one of America’s most loved elder teachers of Shamanism for today’s modern society. Her classes are always ongoing online and she also offers free initial counseling to anyone who wishes it. Visit her site to learn more at www.shamanelder.com.  Online course by email, 16 lessons, study at home in your spare time, unlimited correspondence with a traditional Shaman.  Learn over 20 shamanic tools you can use to heal yourself and others. All for only $135!!! Get Started Today!

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Day 54 Dealing with Beliefs Given to us in Fear

When I was in first grade my first experience in school, We didn’t even have to go to any kindergarten or preschool then, my teacher was a nun dressed in black and white  habit who stood 6 foot 11 and wore size 16 men’s basketball sneakers, the only shoes that would fit her. Imagine this teeny little 6 year old girl sitting in an oversized desk looking at those gigantic shoes that could just stomp her out. I would look up to the top of the world and see that mean face wrapped in that nun outfit glaring down at me. I would feel the sting of her ruler on my back if I didn’t’ sit up straight enough. Yes I was definitely afraid of her.

When children are afraid of the parental authority like I was of this nun, and she tells me that girls are dumber than boys, I don’t need any facts or logic to believe what she is telling me. I believe simply because she said so! And I will believe it with all my heart and soul rather than have her come down on me and hit me or stomp on me. Anything she told me- I took for the whole truth.

As we grow up, even though that adult is no longer present in our lives. The feelings of fear that pushed non benefitting beliefs into our minds and souls is still there. Those beliefs are held in our psyche by a lock of fear. We still subconsciously fear the authority that taught us that belief. So even into my adulthood I still believed that men were smarter than women. There is certainly no data to back that up. No proof of that, in fact just about everybody would tell you it is not true, but because that belief was given to me as a result of a fear based authority figure telling me what to believe, I am going to believe that belief and not be able to change that belief. I will even make up my own reasons why that belief is true and I might even refuse to hear any one try to tell me it is not true. I clutch that belief because I am afraid to let go of it because I still have a child’s fear of that nun inside me, what might happen if I let go of her belief, how will I be punished, what terrible thing will happen to me if I doubt that belief. I subconsciously feel safe by continuing to believe this non benefitting belief. To change it would make me feel unsafe as though I was violating something and would get hurt. It is this feeling of safety I get from believing this belief that makes me keep it no matter how disabling it might be to me.

So with beliefs like these we have to see WHO taught us these non benefitting beliefs and are we still afraid of those authority figures? Do they still hold power over us? Until we can face the authority who taught us these non benefitting belief, face to face, adult to adult, until we can remove the fear that they had over us consciously, we cannot remove these beliefs.  We must realize that it is no longer dangerous to disagree with that authority figure who told us to believe in these beliefs and we can now update our beliefs based on the current reality of things in our lives today. I think we all have been given beliefs like these. I think it is worth it to find them and deal with them. What do you think?

Email me at shaman@shamanelder.com and we can work through such a  non-benefitting beliefs of yours for free! Or visit http://www.shamanelder.com/

Aho

Shaman Elder Maggie

Day 41 What Causes Addictions?

I will give you what I find the answer this through working with people with addictions. We choose addictions because we are being controlled by outside forces and feel that we are no longer fully within our power. We want to be in control of ourselves. When we fully feel we are within our own power, we can live without addictions. But when we feel controlled by someone else, be that a spouse, a boss, a life situation, a norm given to us by society, well, from any place, we choose to smoke or drink or some other behavior that we do control, or at least feel we control. It is a bad way for us to regain some control over our own lives. No one is going to tell you that you can't have some coffee. You have freedom in coffee, you use it whenever you decide to use it, you have freedom of control over your coffee use, it is something you decide to do for yourself.

This might be a hard concept to grasp because it is quite hidden and we don’t like to look at control issues at all. And it seems like an addiction is not something you are controlling, and certainly not a good way to regain control over your own life. But that is what an addiction is. Sometimes as with alcohol, it is to escape from that outside control, to take control of yourself by drinking and hiding out from the control of others. It does not matter if one is really under the control of some outside force or not. It only matters if one feels as though he or she is under the control of some outside force.

Some people willingly give control away. They are not troubled by it. But some people feel robbed of themselves when under the control of outside forces. Their attempt to regain some kind of control over their own lives is to begin a habit that they fully control, often an addictive habit.

So are these people just an addictive personality type? I don't think so. These people are just more sensitive to their own sense of freedom and choose not to be controlled by outside forces. Yet they are controlled. How to break the habit? Find out what is controlling you and get away from it.

Aho

Shaman Elder Maggie www.shamanelder.com