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Browse every published article connected to Debra Reble, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
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Over the years, many people have asked, "How do I distinguish between my head and my heart?" and "How do I stop the incessant ricochet of thoughts that prompts my constant anxiety. Learning to differentiate the fear-based chatter of our brain from the voice of our heart requires consciously slowing down, creating space so that we can expand our awareness of ourselves and our experience.
Healthy caregiving is a loving, energetic exchange in which we are the conduits for light force energy. This exchange results in a positive energy flow first to ourselves and then to others through the heart center. As a true caregiver, we can open our heart compassionately in healthy detachment and maintain a positive flow of energy with the other person without suffering with them. This compassionate detachment keeps us from taking things "to heart" which can stress the heart center, resulting in physical and emotional distress or depression.
Throughout our everyday lives, we need to make choices all the time. Sometimes, we may find making any choice an overwhelming experience. Because we have so much going through our minds at once, it is often hard to sort through this ricochet of ideas, thoughts and information and make the choice that resonates with us. Then, feeling bogged down in the fear that we’ll make the “wrong” or ” bad” choice, we often become paralyzed or avoid making a choice altogether. Unfortunately, not making a choice through fear or avoidance is still making a choice.
Despite the pain it elicits, loss teaches us about the delicate balance, intensity, and richness of life. We cannot experience the pain of loss without first having experienced the joys associated with what has been lost. In the movie Shadowlands, poet Joy Gresham, in speaking about her impending death to author C. S. Lewis, expresses, "The greater the love, the deeper the sorrow and the longer it will take to work through it. That's the deal." The heartbreak that wounds us most deeply eventually leads us to greater enlightenment, blessing our lives with a more spiritual depth of life.
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." Helen Keller
Shift is a fundamental force in the universe that we can harness to create and enhance the greater good. Right now we are in the midst of tremendous shifts on a global level and individually as well. How we perceive and deal with the significant changes in the financial market, environment, and political landscape will determine our well-being as inhabitants of planet earth.
Absolute trust in ourselves governs how we perceive and respond to all challenges in life. It affords us the personal power to express pure love, flow with the stream of life, and transcend any difficult circumstance. For example, with such trust we can embrace every situation not as a source of fear or upset but as an opportunity for growth, even when it unravels the fabric of our lives, such as losing a job, ending a relationship, suffering from an illness, or grieving the loss of a loved one.
To forgive our past, we first have to face and resolve any unfinished business from our past choices. This means every pattern, choice, and grievance must be examined, like turning over river stones, without hiding behind the facade of excuses. Then, to attain closure, in addition to spiritually releasing our patterns it is also necessary to clean up any physical residue associated with them by getting rid of emotionally charged possessions or gifts, closing bank accounts, changing titles on properties, and letting go of old wedding rings.
Absolute trust is the cornerstone for cultivating intimacy in our relationships. True intimacy is based on mutual absolute trust and requires that both people are willing to be open, vulnerable and uninhibited with each other. Moreover, we find that the more we open ourselves, the more we receive, which creates a cycle of trust, love and intimacy that continually replenishes itself.
Permission to break with tradition: Give each other permission to take time for yourselves and each other. Be open to creating new experiences and breaking the predictable patterns of what you’ve always done around the holidays. Take a short get-away, give each other massages, and spend more relaxed time together. Communicate your needs: Take turns sharing your vision of the holiday season. Listen to each other with non-judgment, acceptance and respect and without interruption.
Letting go is one of the most important, yet most difficult spiritual principles that we are awakening to at this time. Like any art, it takes an open loving heart, expanded awareness, and sustained practice to become masterful. It also requires surrounding ourselves with the people and environments that support us releasing what is necessary in a healthy and positive way. Most of all, letting go requires trust in ourselves and our connection to source for it to become an essential element in our lives such as the air we breathe. Many people have asked me, “How do I let go?
Most of us desire deeper, levels of intimacy with ourselves and our loved ones. Such meaningful relationships and intimate interactions begin with feeling “safe” enough to to freely and openly share our fears and insecurities. Opening up to another person and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable helps us establish the intimate connection we desire. We can let down our guard and the barriers that surround our hearts by establishing absolute trust in ourselves and our connection with source. This creates a foundation for an intimate relationship with another.
In 1992, a Chinese freighter mistakenly dropped a crate of 30,000 rubber duckies into the Pacific Ocean. Three months later, many of these “friendly floatees” were discovered on the coasts of Indonesia, Australia, and South America. Some daring ducks headed toward Alaska by crossing the Bering Strait and even sailed through the Arctic Ocean, finally landing on the coast of England. Due to the accidental release of the rubber duckies, scientists were able to better understand ocean currents and wave patterns.