Laura Bruno’s Blog | April 27 2012
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.” —Author unknown
No, I don’t eat fish, and yes, this analogy applies to women and children as well as men. I mention it today because so many people have lately requested I “just heal them” of whatever physical, mental, emotional or spiritual pains trouble them. I keep having to say, “No, I will not do the work for you, but I will teach you how to heal yourself. The energies of this time do not support a complete outsourcing of self-healing or any other responsibility. Yes, in most cases, I can help, but that comes through educating people about how their own energy system, karma, and self-talk work so that they know how to shift themselves into the positive feelings they’d prefer.”
Some people appreciate this, while others feel angry that I’m withholding what I “could” give them. The truth is that I love and honor them enough to offer much more than just a quick fix. The challenges of our times (both individual and collective) all stem from people outsourcing their own responsibility, which ultimately results in feeling “stuck” or “trapped” by circumstances “outside” their control.
When we abdicate personal responsibility, we also give away our freedom and power. In order to reclaim freedom and power, we must accept the responsibility that goes along with them. Yes, we can ask for help, but we should be wary of those who offer or claim to do everything for us, because real healing and empowerment come from within. Giving responsibility for our own well-being to another person, corporation, doctor, government, religion, or the economy makes us vulnerable to their whims, flaws, limitations and control. How can we know they truly have our best interests in mind? What choices do they leave us for opting out if we don’t like this feeling of dependence? What if we learn, mid-stream, that they not only can’t live up to their promises to save us, but never intended to do so in the first place?
Suddenly, the free ride doesn’t seem so free. Whatever its form, true healing comes with a price. In most cases, that price means throwing off the illusions that got us sick, ill, in debt or trapped. Some of these illusions run deep, and we may not want to let them go; however, we will only heal to the degree we manage to surrender the illusions. We can’t fake this casting off process to our deepest selves. If we haven’t finished, then the same issue(s) will continue to appear until we clear away the root distortions and lies. I see these patterns in clients and myself regarding past life issues, limiting beliefs and the blame game. Understanding our process makes letting go much easier. It might seem to take longer to learn how and why we engage in certain patterns, but ultimately, consciousness is more efficient than playing whack-a-mole with the next symptom, drama or disappointment.
Solutions from outside ourselves may ease pain for a moment, but they won’t help when the next challenge appears. And rest assured, in 2012, challenges will continue to appear! Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” As the veils drop, people will begin to see myriad ways in which the current paradigm functions as a dictatorship. Life is upside down, inside out and backwards — and has been for a long, long time. Recognizing the inversions takes courage:
“MUCH madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
’T is the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,—you ’re straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.” ~Emily Dickinson
Healing such inversions requires courage, an understanding of how things become inverted, and acceptance of the personal responsibility to right those things within our own perspective, attitudes and vibration. At best, surface action and outsourced healing act as band-aids, but they won’t correct the root problem. At worst, they can amplify the root problem of giving away power and control to someone or something else. The famous slave-turned-Underground-
Healing and freedom go together. That’s why Harriet Tubman could say, “I never ran my train off track and I never lost a passenger.” The sooner we realize that our natural state is one of flow, Grace, health, wholeness, freedom and total alignment, the faster we can readjust whenever something begins to pull us off course. Faster adjustments mean less time in pain, resistance and poverty. When we learn to conduct ourselves, we stop running off track. We feel balanced, free, healed and whole.
Will I heal you? No. It is not my responsibility to heal you, but I love teaching people how they can heal themselves. I love helping people to recognize their own systemic patterns so that shifting one or two areas results in quantum leaping all areas of life affected by those patterns. Sometimes past life awareness heals root causes of distortions; sometimes clearing parasites strengthens the core sense of self; sometimes tough love helps people realize how powerful, magical and connected they already are. Whatever comes through me in sessions, I am not the one doing the healing. “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.” Source energy flows all around and through us, but it cannot force us to embrace that energy. Learning to recognize and correct our own resistance ensures that we can connect to infinite healing, love and freedom whenever we desire. We gain true security by realizing how and why we manage the flow.
Even if I could use my faery magick wand to bless and presto heal everyone I know, the energy of these times runs against such action. From Egypt to Madison to Occupy to localization to grassroots freedom movements, today’s healing energy requires participation in order to work. David Icke describes “Problem-Reaction-Solution” as the means by which the 1% control the 99%. Collectively, the world has begun reacting to problems. Will we scream for the quickest “solutions” offered? Or do we accept responsibility for the world we wish to co-create? Will we become the change we wish to see in the world, or sit back and demand someone else swoop in to save us from ourselves?
Patrick Henry so famously said:
“Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
“Is security so dear, or wealth so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
The energy of 2012 supports the passion of Patrick Henry. In a world of so many environmental, economic, personal, and collective ills, we must choose. We can relearn responsibility for managing our own energy, health, finances and reality creation, or we can accept a default reality that may very well extinguish the human race. Each personal healing affects the collective. Each step towards personal sovereignty and well-being empowers the collective. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but that does not negate the importance of individual parts. I leave you with words of The Elders Oraibi of the Arizona Hopi Nation:
“You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
“Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.
“And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
“This could be a good time!
“There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
“Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. See who is in there with you and celebrate.
“At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
“The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!
“Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
“All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”