I signed up for the classes out of intrigue, I guess. This was back in the ‘80’s when I knew next to nothing about laws of the universe, metaphysics, or our potential to be powerful. A friend was going, so ‘what the heck’, I’ll tag along.
The Shaman Priest and Priestess couple were teaching classes in their apartment where housekeeping and cleanliness weren’t even afterthoughts. They had a small child so there must have been some sort of romantic interlude, but I couldn’t wrap my head around that concept. How do you get naked with another with detritus everywhere? I recall my thoughts being a huge distraction. As if the Shamans’ teachings needed to be filtered through my judgement to be acceptable!
Grime aside, this Shaman teacher was gifted, powerful and walked his talk. He was a stickler for the spoken word and energy movement. His teachings focused on the concept that each thought in your head, each word out of your mouth was an intention ready for manifestation. This is truly where he was fastidious.
During one of the classes, his toddler was milling around during class and started to get into something she shouldn’t, either pulling books off a shelf or tattering a magazine, something inconsequential but annoying and distracting to an adult. I was sitting on the floor, eye level, so said, “oh you don’t want to do that” to distract her. The Shaman, her parent, corrected me immediately. “Yes, she does want to do that. Telling her ‘no’ is okay. But don’t confuse her with ‘you don’t want to do that’ because she clearly does want to do that.”
The masterful Shaman turned my bumbling use of common communication into valuable lessons. I was so used to talking without thinking, his corrections were intimidating, and intriguing all rolled into one.
In another lesson we were introduced to the concept that energy flows where attention goes.
To illustrate, how many times do we complain about our current circumstances, telling our friends or anyone who will listen about our discomfort? Social media is rife with examples as we lob another volley to register our distaste. We get caught in that loop because there’s an endorphin hit to our lamenting and we feel justified in our complaints. But if energy flows where attention goes, why are we energizing our angst?
I get caught in this too, even today. It’s a muscle that needs continued exercise. For the novice, there’s a learning curve as you forge new habits. Forging new habits means acknowledging the fact that your current situation, personal or global, is not what you want it to be. Then asking yourself, ‘what would I like to see instead’? Can your articulate it? Give it some serious thought, sleep on it. Write it down. Now you know what you want to energize and where to focus your attention.
As our Shaman teacher reminded us, ‘If you want to leave Denver, go to Cheyenne’.
Provocatively so, the Laws of the Universe work whether you believe them or not. While you are smoldering about what you don’t like, and focusing all your energy there, you are ensuring that powerful and useful energy is holding you to the circumstance you desperately want to leave. Universal laws are working, applying all sorts of vibration to the very thing you want to get away from. You can stew in the current circumstance or realize your own ability to focus elsewhere and let that same Universal law carry you to a circumstance more to your liking.
Your wish for different circumstances may require you to show up differently. More education or experience, a different perspective or attitude, more trust in your own abilities. That’s when you can take a personal assessment, then begin to make personal adjustments. Energy healing can help you with deep changes that can significantly alter your trajectory.
Here are my two takeaways from this brilliant man.
Pearls of wisdom can come from the most unlikely place. Not necessarily from a textbook or from a person of socially deemed authority, but perhaps by someone who you are quick to judge and who seemingly has nothing in common with you.
Secondly, remember to focus your attention and energy on what you desire.
Not necessarily significant to the story, my friend and I asked the Shaman Priest and Priestess to perform our ‘Hand Fasting’ marriage ceremony a year later.
