Visitors From Within

I had a mesmerizing encounter the other night with a praying mantis sitting outside on my porch window. The last time I saw one up close and personal was when I was twelve years old. It fascinated me as much then as it did this time. However, as a kid, I did not recognize the significance of its presence in that moment.

This time, I stood up close to this prehistoric-looking creature and placed my hand gently on the glass, hoping it would extend its reach to me in an offer of friendship. I felt it was sending me a message by the way it methodically turned its eyes toward me in a rather sophisticated movement.

Suddenly, my mind was flooded with thoughts of how far I had come from the person I was in my youth. Such as the determined behavior of the salmon swimming upstream to spawn to ensure the survival of their offspring. In my youth, the idea of ‘swimming upstream’ for anything represented taking a more challenging route to accomplish a goal rather than an easier alternative.

I had been that person in my early life. You know, the one who looks for the fastest and simplest way to accomplish my goal…Especially if ‘the goal’ involved studying for a math test, in which I had absolutely no interest. In fact, the classroom was my least favorite place to be. So, my perception of myself when I was young was that I had fallen short of the expectations of others.

Many a nightmare have spawned from such memories, just as it did the other night when I awoke with a start, having dreamed I was sitting in math class completely unprepared for the final exam placed in front of me. To make matters worse, I simply could not remember having attended the class at all. I looked up at the teacher but could not see a face. All I heard was a voice say, “Well, better late than never!”

Interestingly, the Praying Mantis, according to crystalclearintuition.com, represents lost souls who are guided home to peaceful resolutions and the transmutation of energy back to universal consciousness. Better late than never is right!

I do feel now as if I am living in a more peaceful and natural flow state rather than swimming upstream, struggling with the self-doubt that often accompanies taking those crucial steps away from my comfort zone. I am slowly inching my way out on that limb to challenge myself with new ways of thinking and being.

Analyzing my dreams has been instrumental for me in making decisions based on the information I am able to gather there. It is like fitting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together, one by one, to get the ‘bigger picture.’

“Belief is the hidden treasure within all of us…It is the power within every human of which no force on earth has the slightest consequence.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

I believe all living beings are innately connected by the spirit of their vibration. I sensed within the vibration of this prehistoric-looking creature that I was rising above the fear of my past and entering a happier and more exciting future in terms of my own ‘sense of self’ and not being so concerned anymore about how others see me.

Animal totems often enter my dreams to deliver messages of some element or attitude that is ‘outdated’ in my thinking and needs some revision. In every instance, I now recognize them as the fundamental aspects of myself that are most often the bringers of great wisdom to plant the seed of self-awareness in my consciousness.

Sometimes, there is a ‘bleed-through’ into my waking world of an unusual sort, much like my mantis friend here. Not that they are rare, it is just not every day I see one. Like lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Unless, of course, you are Dorothy Gale skipping down the yellow brick road, you are not likely to bump into one!

This encounter caused me to pause and consider the challenges that I have manifested in my life through my own resistance to changing my way of thinking. But when I began the practice, and yes, it is a practice, of thinking differently about the things that had always troubled me in the past, my present began to treat me differently.

When you re-direct your attention away from the problems in your life and change your perception of them, you create a new reality driven by the energy of your new thoughts and intentions. We are presented with a multitude of opportunities to make shifts in our thinking and recreate our lives anew in every single moment. The key is in recognizing where the ‘space’ is ripe for change.

It is in that ‘space between’ that I often refer to, where super-fluidity exists…It is the spirit of creation, corresponding to your rhythm and vibration. When you are in this state, you are not pushing back and resisting yourself or the forces outside of yourself. You are in a natural ‘flow state’ that allows you to align yourself with your body, mind, and your spirit.

You are the author of your own story. In that ‘space between’ thoughts and things…action and re-action…This is where your power lies. Write a best-seller!