Hypothetically

[Rara]

As long as you can find the stuff that was moved, if itvwas spirits that moved it then it's more likely to be someone attracting attention from spirit than anything 'dark'.

We have a chap at the centre a widower and after his wife passed for quite a while she moved a framed photo that was on the mantlepiece from one side to another quite regularly.

He'd go to bed with it on the left and when he got up it was over to the right side.

I wonder what they want then...and why they are obsessed with my Xbox games lol.

 

Ok, probably not relared to what I'm thinking then!

[Rara]

Rara, by dark rites I'm referring to dark ceremonies/rituals that call on forces of evil.

Ah, ok I see. Could you elaborate on the person you were in contact with that had been performing them? In what way do you think this could be a factor?

[Unseen_Abilities]

Well, this guy's nothing like the people in my family (on the surface) - he was a friend of mine at the time, or posing as one anyway.

 

It could only be a factor now (it was a factor a few years ago) if their group is still running around doing these things and decided to try pulling a nasty one on me a few months ago...Given what I now know and do, I don't see how something like that, from then, could still be coming up in this way. Also, that would be an extreme curse - I don't think this guy is capable of that, given my health now and like I said, given what I know and do.

 

One more thing that could be a factor - I've mentioned on here before, that I did mess around with some demonic stuff way back when I was taking drugs that did open me up to very nasty things that took a long time to heal. However there may have been this deeper issue going then as well, not to mention the ill-effects that substance abuse can bring to a person.

 

That said, just say you take a look at certain family members websites and notice a bit of an ol' concealed upside-down cross (in the same manner many folks speak of when attempting to expose these kinds of people) and then ya take a peak at some drawings you made when you were a kid and there's weird sea demon in there, then another look at another family members picture book they made and it has drawings they've made of creatures in robes around a bed and tales of meetings in churches etc. etc. and you really start to wonder.

 

Best wishes buddy.

[GrandmasterP]

Healing the Child Within

 

The cry we hear from deep in our hearts, says Thich Nhat Hanh, comes from the wounded child within. Healing this inner childs pain is the key to transforming anger, sadness, and fear.

 

In each of us, there is a young, suffering child. We have all had times of difficulty as children and many of us have experienced trauma. To protect and defend ourselves against future suffering, we often try to forget those painful times. Every time were in touch with the experience of suffering, we believe we cant bear it, and we stuff our feelings and memories deep down in our unconscious mind. It may be that we havent dared to face this child for many decades.

 

But just because we may have ignored the child doesnt mean she or he isnt there. The wounded child is always there, trying to get our attention. The child says, Im here. Im here. You cant avoid me. You cant run away from me. We want to end our suffering by sending the child to a deep place inside, and staying as far away as possible. But running away doesnt end our suffering; it only prolongs it.

 

The wounded child asks for care and love, but we do the opposite. We run away because were afraid of suffering. The block of pain and sorrow in us feels overwhelming. Even if we have time, we dont come home to ourselves. We try to keep ourselves constantly entertainedwatching television or movies, socializing, or using alcohol or drugsbecause we dont want to experience that suffering all over again.

 

The wounded child is there and we dont even know she is there. The wounded child in us is a reality, but we cant see her. That inability to see is a kind of ignorance. This child has been severely wounded. She or he really needs us to return. Instead we turn away.

 

Ignorance is in each cell of our body and our consciousness. Its like a drop of ink diffused in a glass of water. That ignorance stops us from seeing reality; it pushes us to do foolish things that make us suffer even more and wound again the already-wounded child in us.

 

The wounded child is also in each cell of our body. There is no cell of our body that does not have that wounded child in it. We dont have to look far into the past for that child. We only have to look deeply and we can be in touch with him. The suffering of that wounded child is lying inside us right now in the present moment.

 

But just as the suffering is present in every cell of our body, so are the seeds of awakened understanding and happiness handed down to us from our ancestors. We just have to use them. We have a lamp inside us, the lamp of mindfulness, which we can light anytime. The oil of that lamp is our breathing, our steps, and our peaceful smile. We have to light up that lamp of mindfulness so the light will shine out and the darkness will dissipate and cease. Our practice is to light up the lamp.

 

When we become aware that weve forgotten the wounded child in ourselves, we feel great compassion for that child and we begin to generate the energy of mindfulness. The practices of mindful walking, mindful sitting, and mindful breathing are our foundation. With our mindful breath and mindful steps, we can produce the energy of mindfulness and return to the awakened wisdom lying in each cell of our body. That energy will embrace us and heal us, and will heal the wounded child in us.

 

 

Listening

 

When we speak of listening with compassion, we usually think of listening to someone else. But we must also listen to the wounded child inside us. Sometimes the wounded child in us needs all our attention. That little child might emerge from the depths of your consciousness and ask for your attention. If you are mindful, you will hear his or her voice calling for help. At that moment, instead of paying attention to whatever is in front of you, go back and tenderly embrace the wounded child. You can talk directly to the child with the language of love, saying, In the past, I left you alone. I went away from you. Now, I am very sorry. I am going to embrace you. You can say, Darling, I am here for you. I will take good care of you. I know you suffer so much. I have been so busy. I have neglected you, and now I have learned a way to come back to you. If necessary, you have to cry together with that child. Whenever you need to, you can sit and breathe with the child. Breathing in, I go back to my wounded child; breathing out, I take good care of my wounded child.

 

You have to talk to your child several times a day. Only then can healing take place. Embracing your child tenderly, you reassure him that you will never let him down again or leave him unattended. The little child has been left alone for so long. That is why you need to begin this practice right away. If you dont do it now, when will you do it?

 

If you know how to go back to her and listen carefully every day for five or ten minutes, healing will take place. When you climb a beautiful mountain, invite your child within to climb with you. When you contemplate the sunset, invite her to enjoy it with you. If you do that for a few weeks or a few months, the wounded child in you will experience healing.

 

With practice, we can see that our wounded child is not only us. Our wounded child may represent several generations. Our mother may have suffered throughout her life. Our father may have suffered. Perhaps our parents werent able to look after the wounded child in themselves. So when were embracing the wounded child in us, were embracing all the wounded children of our past generations. This practice is not a practice for ourselves alone, but for numberless generations of ancestors and descendants.

 

Our ancestors may not have known how to care for their wounded child within, so they transmitted their wounded child to us. Our practice is to end this cycle. If we can heal our wounded child, we will not only liberate ourselves, but we will also help liberate whoever has hurt or abused us. The abuser may also have been the victim of abuse. There are people who have practiced with their inner child for a long time who have had a lessening of their suffering and have experienced transformation. Their relationships with their family and friends have become much easier.

 

We suffer because we have not been touched by compassion and understanding. If we generate the energy of mindfulness, understanding, and compassion for our wounded child, we will suffer much less. When we generate mindfulness, compassion and understanding become possible, and we can allow people to love us. Before, we may have been suspicious of everything and everyone. Compassion helps us relate to others and restore communication. The people around us, our family and friends, may also have a severely wounded child inside. If weve managed to help ourselves, we can also help them. When weve healed ourselves, our relationships with others become much easier. Theres more peace and more love in us.

Go back and take care of yourself. Your body needs you, your feelings need you, your perceptions need you. The wounded child in you needs you. Your suffering needs you to acknowledge it. Go home and be there for all these things. Practice mindful walking and mindful breathing. Do everything in mindfulness so you can really be there, so you can love.

 

 

The Energy of Mindfulness

 

The energy of mindfulness is the salve that will recognize and heal the child within. But how do we cultivate this energy?

 

Buddhist psychology divides consciousness into two parts. One part is mind consciousness and the other is store consciousness. Mind consciousness is our active awareness. Western psychology calls it the conscious mind. To cultivate the energy of mindfulness, we try to engage our active awareness in all our activities and be truly present with whatever we are doing. We want to be mindful as we drink our tea or drive through the city. When we walk, we want to be aware that we are walking. When we breathe, we want to be aware that we are breathing.

 

Store consciousness, also called root consciousness, is the base of our consciousness. In Western psychology its called the unconscious mind. Its where all our past experiences are stored. Store consciousness has the capacity to learn and to process information.

 

Often our mind is not there with our body. Sometimes we go through our daily activities without mind consciousness being involved at all. We can do many things by means of store consciousness alone, and mind consciousness can be thinking of a thousand other things. For example, when we drive our car through the city, mind consciousness may not be thinking about driving at all, but we can still reach our destination without getting lost or having an accident. That is store consciousness operating on its own.

 

Consciousness is like a house in which the basement is our store consciousness and the living room is our mind consciousness. Mental formations like anger, sorrow, or joy, rest in the store consciousness in the form of seeds (bija). We have a seed of anger, despair, discrimination, fear, a seed of mindfulness, compassion, a seed of understanding, and so on. Store consciousness is made of the totality of the seeds, and it is also the soil that preserves and maintains all the seeds. The seeds stay there until we hear, see, read, or think of something that touches a seed and makes us feel the anger, joy, or sorrow. This is a seed coming up and manifesting on the level of mind consciousness, in our living room. Now we no longer call it a seed, but a mental formation.

 

When someone touches the seed of anger by saying something or doing something that upsets us, that seed of anger will come up and manifest in mind consciousness as the mental formation (cittasamskara) of anger. The word formation is a Buddhist term for something thats created by many conditions coming together. A marker pen is a formation; my hand, a flower, a table, a house, are all formations. A house is a physical formation. My hand is a physiological formation. My anger is a mental formation. In Buddhist psychology we speak about fifty-one varieties of seeds that can manifest as fifty-one mental formations. Anger is just one of them. In store consciousness, anger is called a seed. In mind consciousness, its called a mental formation.

Whenever a seed, say the seed of anger, comes up into our living room and manifests as a mental formation, the first thing we can do is to touch the seed of mindfulness and invite it to come up too. Now we have two mental formations in the living room. This is mindfulness of anger. Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something. When we breathe mindfully, that is mindfulness of breathing. When we walk mindfully, that is mindfulness of walking. When we eat mindfully, thats mindfulness of eating. So in this case, mindfulness is mindfulness of anger. Mindfulness recognizes and embraces anger.

 

Our practice is based on the insight of nondualityanger is not an enemy. Both mindfulness and anger are ourselves. Mindfulness is there not to suppress or fight against anger, but to recognize and take care of itlike a big brother helping a younger brother. So the energy of anger is recognized and embraced tenderly by the energy of mindfulness.

 

Every time we need the energy of mindfulness, we just touch that seed with our mindful breathing, mindful walking, smiling, and then we have the energy ready to do the work of recognizing, embracing, and later on looking deeply and transforming. Whatever were doing, whether its cooking, sweeping, washing, walking, being aware of our breathing, we can continue to generate the energy of mindfulness, and the seed of mindfulness in us will become strong. Within the seed of mindfulness is the seed of concentration. With these two energies, we can liberate ourselves from afflictions.

 

 

The Mind Needs Good Circulation

 

We know there are toxins in our body. If our blood doesnt circulate well, these toxins accumulate. In order to remain healthy, our body works to expel the toxins. When the blood circulates well, the kidneys and the liver can do their job to dispel toxins. We can use massage to help the blood circulate better.

 

Our consciousness, too, may be in a state of bad circulation. We may have a block of suffering, pain, sorrow, or despair in us; its like a toxin in our consciousness. We call this an internal formation or internal knot. Embracing our pain and sorrow with the energy of mindfulness is the practice of massaging our consciousness. When the blood doesnt circulate well, our organs cant function properly, and we get sick. When our psyche doesnt circulate well, our mind will become sick. Mindfulness stimulates and accelerates circulation throughout blocks of pain.

 

 

Occupying the Living Room

 

Our blocks of pain, sorrow, anger, and despair always want to come up into our mind consciousness, into our living room, because theyve grown big and need our attention. They want to emerge, but we dont want these uninvited guests to come up because theyre painful to look at. So we try to block their way. We want them to stay asleep down in the basement. We dont want to face them, so our habit is to fill the living room with other guests. Whenever we have ten or fifteen minutes of free time, we do anything we can to keep our living room occupied. We call a friend. We pick up a book. We turn on the television. We go for a drive. We hope that if the living room is occupied, these unpleasant mental formations will not come up.

But all mental formations need to circulate. If we dont let them come up, it creates bad circulation in our psyche, and symptoms of mental illness and depression begin to manifest in our mind and body.

 

Sometimes when we have a headache, we take aspirin, but our headache doesnt go away. Sometimes this kind of headache can be a symptom of mental illness. Perhaps we have allergies. We think its a physical problem, but allergies can also be a symptom of mental illness. We are advised by doctors to take drugs, but sometimes these will continue to suppress our internal formations, making our sickness worse.

 

 

Dismantling Barriers

 

If we can learn not to fear our knots of suffering, we slowly begin to let them circulate up into our living room. We begin to learn how to embrace them and transform them with the energy of mindfulness. When we dismantle the barrier between the basement and the living room, blocks of pain will come up and we will have to suffer a bit. Our inner child may have a lot of fear and anger stored up from being down in the basement for so long. There is no way to avoid it.

 

That is why the practice of mindfulness is so important. If mindfulness is not there, it is very unpleasant to have these seeds come up. But if we know how to generate the energy of mindfulness, its very healing to invite them up every day and embrace them. Mindfulness is a strong source of energy that can recognize, embrace, and take care of these negative energies. Perhaps these seeds dont want to come up at first, perhaps theres too much fear and distrust, so we may have to coax them a bit. After being embraced for some time, a strong emotion will return to the basement and become a seed again, weaker than before.

 

Every time you give your internal formations a bath of mindfulness, the blocks of pain in you become lighter. So give your anger, your despair, your fear, a bath of mindfulness every day. After several days or weeks of bringing them up daily and helping them go back down again, you create good circulation in your psyche.

 

 

The Function of Mindfulness

 

The first function of mindfulness is to recognize and not to fight. We can stop at any time and become aware of the child within us. When we recognize the wounded child for the first time, all we need to do is be aware of him or her and say hello. Thats all. Perhaps this child is sad. If we notice this we can just breathe in and say to ourselves, Breathing in, I know that sorrow has manifested in me. Hello, my sorrow. Breathing out, I will take good care of you.

 

Once we have recognized our inner child, the second function of mindfulness is to embrace him or her. This is a very pleasant practice. Instead of fighting our emotions, we are taking good care of ourselves. Mindfulness brings with her an allyconcentration. The first few minutes of recognizing and embracing our inner child with tenderness will bring some relief. The difficult emotions will still be there, but we wont suffer as much anymore.

 

After recognizing and embracing our inner child, the third function of mindfulness is to soothe and relieve our difficult emotions. Just by holding this child gently, we are soothing our difficult emotions and we can begin to feel at ease. When we embrace our strong emotions with mindfulness and concentration, well be able to see the roots of these mental formations. Well know where our suffering has come from. When we see the roots of things, our suffering will lessen. So mindfulness recognizes, embraces, and relieves.

 

The energy of mindfulness contains the energy of concentration as well as the energy of insight. Concentration helps us focus on just one thing. With concentration, the energy of looking becomes more powerful and insight is possible. Insight always has the power of liberating us. If mindfulness is there, and we know how to keep mindfulness alive, concentration will be there, too. And if we know how to keep concentration alive, insight will also come. The energy of mindfulness enables us to look deeply and gain the insight we need so that transformation is possible.

 

 

 

Adapted from Reconciliation: Healing The Inner Child (2010) by Thich Nhat Hanh, with permission from Parallax Press, Berkeley, California. www.parallax.org

Edited April 24, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Unseen_Abilities]

Thank you GrandmasterP, that deserves a proper read when I have more time.

 

Btw, Uechi-ryū kicks ass.

 

At the time being, it's best to just get on with my life.

 

[Unseen_Abilities]

This is from the movie "The Boxer" - My Dad always said this was his favourite movie - I played this today and cried the profound tears I've ever cried...

 

 

Unseen_Abilities