A Multidimentional Revolution & The Return of the Healer

Bringing It Up Notch: Paradigm Shifts & Acknowledging the Sacred in all of Life

What is this moment in time calling for? Are we awake, fully attentive to the changes happening around us? Are we able to listen to the real need so that we can step through the door that is being opened?

- Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Sufi Master
 

 Most of us will agree that the mystery and miracle of life is so much more than we are able to comprehend in our every day lives, as we go through life, dealing mostly with our obligations to family, to our work life, and to fulfilling our needs and desires.  On top of that, we are facing economic downturns that result in devastation for many families and communities, as well as the cultural and unprecedented social issues  and problems that appear to have no clear resolution.  We are, indeed  a world in turmoil, and that global turmoil is churning us and forcing us to look at our world, with all it’s problems, violence and lack of awareness, and consider what we all must do in order to transform our own little part we play in it.

The massive social issues that we are facing today, whether it be in the world of medicine, government, politics, the economy, personal relationships and interactions with people who are “different” from us, the massive increase in Natural Disasters that have devastated whole communities, and the unbridled use of deadly force and violence that has escalated far beyond anything we could have ever imagined, require us to deeply consider taking a different approach, and an alternative & creative way of thinking about how to transform these issues.  Albert Einstein once said, “We can not solve problems by using the same kind of thinking that we used to create them.”  We must have the capacity to see beyond our own societal & personal blinders, so that we can get a clear view of what is beyond our very faces, and have a more rarefied  view of the vast horizon.  We must begin to go beyond our limited views of what it means to be Human, and to be living a human life on this planet.  There is so much to see that we simply refuse to believe or to even look at.  We have, for the most part, severely limited ourselves; seeing ourselves as an amalgamation of biological, physiological, psychological & social functions.  While this perspective might be true and has been helpful in our understanding of life, it is only a fraction of what is real and true, and it is woefully inadequate to solve the problems that we face today.  Its kind of like when Christopher Colombus set out to sail the world, thinking that it was flat, and that he might just end up falling off the edge of the Earth and down into oblivion!  But he did not fail in his attempt, because he misunderstood the nature of the planet.  It was round, not flat as the he had thought.  That was a paradigm changer, for sure!  Our paradigms change as our understanding, wisdom, courage and acceptance grows and evolves.  This is the way of evolution, on every level.
                                                  
 

We have a very urgent need to transcend our current paradigm, shattering it’s limitations so that we can see the vast horizon, the Universe beyond us, and begin to understand who we really are: Eternal Spiritual Beings, held within the container of a Human Body while on the Earth Plane,  with a spiritual energy field that is open, infinite and whose essence is divine in nature and always interacting with the energies of the our environment, consciously or unconsciously.  Each person manifests unique energetic patterns that are interrelated, inseparable and continually evolving.  As such, we must harness the power and courage to embrace all that a new paradigm can give us, all that it can allow us to Become.  Maybe we can call this new paradigm The Universal Awareness and Unity paradigm, or maybe, The Unconditional Love and Unity Paradigm, The One Love Paradigm, or The Awakening Paradigm.  Any of these phrases expresses what we currently find ourselves lacking, and also gives us the intention and the courage to rise beyond what has been plaguing us and holding us back from being all that we are capable of becoming as Sacred Beings.  This assists in defining who we are from a more Holistic and Expansive perspective, as it embraces the whole of life, and beyond.                              

This new paradigm acknowledges the Deeply Spiritual Nature of reality, our own Deeply Expansive nature and the Energetic & Spiritual nature of our existence, as well as the Multi-dimensionality of that existence.  We are more than 3D!   This profound perspective  assists us to move beyond our limited inter-personal, cultural, religious, social and economic differences, while allowing us to perceive the inherent Unity in all of Life.  As the upward, spiral path of evolution brings us beyond our current paradigm,  there are labour pains, and as the birth gets closer and the labor more difficult, it feels like we are being violently torn apart; destroyed or certainly brought close to death.  Then the New Born arrives, out of it’s own chaotic transit through the birth canal,  finally safe as it lays upon it’s Mother’s Breast, waiting for that first sip of nectar from the One who Loves Selflessly; the Mother. 

In the old paradigm, this senario of unconditional love does not always play out.  In our current reality as it is playing out now, some children get abused by the ones who are supposed to love them unconditionally, or they get shot at a school that is supposed to be protecting them, and then when they get to be teenagers, many end up on the street, with no home or food or support, having to pimp their bodies & use dangerous street drugs in order to survive another day in oblivion.  These kids go relatively unnoticed, like much of suffering humanity.  Yes, it hurts so much to be unnoticed and unloved while in your deepest pain. The Old Paradigm is a dying star that will soon have little hold on us, and we will rise up and embrace the newly forming paradigm that will assist us in perceiving the inherent Unity and Unconditional Love embedded in the matrix of the Sacred Universe.  As we begin to perceive the universe and life as sacred and having the highest and best intentions for us, the way we regard ourselves and all others will begin to be transformed as well.  Our understanding of the Sacredness of all of life will begin to be played out gradually, as the dying paradigm of greed, selfishness, violence and disrespect for life teaches us how not to live.  Yet we are quickly growing weary of living in the old paradigm, of this disintegration of all that is good.  However, this was a gift to humanity, just as any paradigm is.  This is the one that showed us what happens when profit-at-any-cost is the only thing we hold as sacred, and we have no real values and no regard or respect for others and no reverence for the sacredness of Life. We fail to see that we are all One, and by living life in this manner, we are killing ourselves and our planet.  

 
Let us begin now to live in the Sacredness of Life, as we stand between the old paradigm and the new; not an easy place to be right now, but just knowing that the shift is beginning can give us the courage and motivation to begin the transformations that are necessary.  As we begin to experience life as being sacred, the way we begin to see ourselves and each other begins to change and become more meaningful and respectful as we work with our patients. We are genuinely wanting to know them, to know how they feel and what they need; to know their deepest wishes and fears, and to support them on their unique path by honoring their needs and concerns.  We begin to see that we are all a part of each other, and as my Spiritual Teacher once told me, we will begin to witness God within each person we meet, and that will create a feeling of being humble, of wanting to be of True Service to others.  Healers, Nurses, Doctors, Social Workers, Psychologists, Medical Professionals, Alternative Medicine Practitioners & Caregivers, we must strive to have a deep regard and reverence for our patients, and for one another. 




 
This holds true for your own needs as well.  You must begin to honor your own need for balance, for time off, for nourishing meals, a massage, and support when you need it.  Nursing is the most demanding of all professions, and taking care of your Self, and respecting your own needs for time off, for meditation, walks on the beach, or in the woods, or working out, time away from the work place to recharge must be part of your new paradigm.  A negative, burned out nurse can create much more harm than good.  Learn to listen to your own needs and know when you have hit your max, before you go over it.  Take your power and give yourself what you need in order to be in Balance, Compassionate, Receptive to what your patients are trying to communicate to you. 

Cultivate a peaceful and loving mind so that nothing outside of yourself can cause you to be off balance; learning a Meditation Practice and Yoga are infinitely helpful with this, and can make your job much more manageable, and give you a sense of ease and mental peace.  Simple yoga postures and short, guided meditations can also be extremely helpful for a patient that is anxious, in pain, depressed, stressed out or having symptoms that respond to certain simple yoga postures or Mudras (simple yoga postures used with finger movements).  I will be teaching some of these techniques in future posts, and in on line classes via skype, soon. 

Respect Yourself.  Love Yourself, and then you can extend that peace, love, respect and unconditional Positive Regard to others.  It all begins Within You.  Be the Change you wish to see within your Self and within your World! 

Also, remember to be aware of when a comrade needs your support;  make a practice of quickly assessing a look, a tension, a tear, a feeling of overwhelm or grief or frustration.  Often, it takes only a simple hug or a loving touch to let someone know that you understand, and that you care.  Those simple gifts are rare, and deeply sacred offerings. 

"There is no energy more powerful than Love. Love creates miracles, heals all wounds, and purifies all lower energies. You cannot give love away, for the more you give, the more you will receive in return. When you choose love you bring about the Highest good for yourself and others. Offering love is always the right choice. With love you can transform or be transparent to people's emotions and thoughts, neutralize "negative" energy, and harmonize with all life in the universe. All energy in the universe responds positively to love."

With Infinite Love & Blessings,

Sanatani Maa

The Nature of Healing

                                    The Nature of Healing

 

It is said that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, and yet, as we live our busy, stress filled lives here on Earth, most of us tend to forget that we are multidimensional beings of light and love, whose very nature is eternal and magnificent.  Instead, we get squashed into these tiny, constricted physical bodies, and over time, our awareness becomes as tiny and constricted as our bodies are.  It is very difficult to remember our true nature when we are that tight and overwhelmed with the demands of human existence.  Being stressed out and overwhelmed creates a terrible tension within our minds and our hearts, and this tension creates a constriction of the natural flow of Spiritual Energy and Prana that keeps us alive, and fills our consciousness with Light, Peace and Expansive Awareness.  Without that connection to the natural flow of spiritual energy that is within us and around us, our innate sense of balance will be off, and our perception of life will be altered and distorted.   A true sense of balance comes from knowing yourself very well, by being able to perceive all that we are, beyond the physical body and the mind.  Very few of us are even aware that there is so much more to us than just our physical presence, our five senses and the processes of our mind while we are here on earth.   We trust that our brain & senses are giving us the correct perceptions and the information that is necessary in order to understand ourselves and how we relate to life.  Yet this is the paradox;  the mind, the senses and its myriad of perceptions and segments of information sewn together in bits and pieces that seemingly make sense, can be very deceptive and lead us in the wrong direction if we are not anchored properly to our own Higher Awareness; our Spiritual Knowingness and the Wisdom that flows down from above the mind.  This Higher Awareness is like a fountain of Flowing Light which contains within it all the Knowledge, all the Love, all the Peace and Greatness of our Soul's Union with all of Creation and with the God Head; our Own Divine Roots & our Connectedness to all that is.  When we are connected to that Great Divine Flow, and we begin to grow and stretch within it, we are Becoming One with all that is, and we eventually become Supremely Content  and Happy for No Reason.  We Become Love.  We Become Happiness and we Become Peace.  Then, we become Radiant Sources of that Grace for the illumination of all.  It is our evolutionary destiny, no matter how long it takes, and how many lifetimes we must travel through in order to get there. 

Yet how have we become so out of balance, so confused and distorted that we have allowed ourselves as a species to forget our divine origins, to constrict our spiritual flow to such an extent that we are closed off all together from our own source of Power, Light, Wisdom and Love?  We are so tight and constricted that we can no longer perceive our own Brilliance and the Absolute Beauty that is all around us.   Life has become so distorted that our reality has shifted drastically and perversely, allowing us to use assault weapons against our own children and neighbors; we now plant poison, mutant seeds that bring forth rotten fruits that give birth to yet unknown consequences to the human body and mind, we poison the oceans with Radiation, Chemicals, & our Military Weapons that Destroy the Great Angels & Ancient Record Keepers (Dolphins & Whales) of the Oceans & the Protective layers of the Ionosphere, high above the Earth; 

Devastating Oil Spills that kill the perfection & Beauty of the ocean echo systems, while the once abundant & rich resources of the Earth, given freely and abundantly by the Creator, have been raped, pillaged and left for dead, as policies like slash and burn turns moist, abundant Rainforests, the Lungs of Mother Earth, into dust and death. Pave Paradise and put up a parking lot. All of this is the direct consequence of living out of harmony with our own spiritual rhythms and with the rhythms of the Earth.  We wonder, why is the Earth Quaking so frequently and with such Force, and why are the Droughts so Dry, the Fires so Hot, the Snow and Ice so thick, the Tornadoes so Monstrous and the Great Storms so Devastating?  Our own Divine Intelligence has been abandoned and sold out to conspicuous consumption, greed, selfish desires and a total lack of caring for our fellow Beings on Planet Earth.   We have failed to see the Divine within ourselves, so how then can we see it in others and in the earth and the universe itself?  This is the most terrible form of violence there is in the world, and it is escalating at an alarming rate.  If we are to restore Balance and Harmony in the world, it must begin with each and every one of us making a powerful attempt to restore our Spiritual Connection to Ourselves, to really Heal ourselves of this insanity we have been living in as a society and to learn to let go and to release what we hold so tightly to.  We must actively restore that vital flow of Spiritual Energy within and around us, fill ourselves with the "Juice" of  an Immensely Loving, Unlimited & Perfect Universe, and allow that Love and Light to spill over into our Hearts and Minds like a Mighty River that will carry us where we need to go, simply because it Knows where we need to be going, and how to get there.  We must learn to TRUST & to Surrender. 

Yet,  as individuals, when we are experiencing a crisis, such as an devastating illness which requires us to seek a greater understanding of life and the nature and process of healing, it can be overwhelming.  Unfortunately, most of us do not consider our own well-being until something disrupts it.  Life these days, with all it’s demands and stresses is, for most people, very difficult to manage, and time itself seems to be in short supply.  The days feel long and exhausting, and the time available to consider one’s deep inner needs seems to be the last thing on everyone’s “to do” list.  When I suggest that someone consider beginning a simple meditation practice every day for 20 minutes, the most common response I get is, "I don't have the luxury of meditating!"  Would you say that about dinner? Oops, I'm sorry, I just don't have the luxury of eating dinner, but when the food comes out of the oven, the forks are armed and ready!

As a result, we have very little awareness of our own inner landscape, the Land of the Soul, and the needs of that inner place from which all of life's experiences and karmas burst forth like ripe fruit hanging on the Vine,  to Awaken us, and there is much uncharted territory within the mysterious recesses of our own heart and mind.  We know very little about ourselves.  It is not surprising that life usually forces us to make a change by presenting us with a major crisis that abruptly stops us in our tracks, and forces us to confront ourselves.   A major heart attack, a cancer diagnosis, a job loss, a tornado or an earthquake that brings us to our knees, the loss of a home, the death of a loved one, a divorce, a betrayal,  an alien abduction (Really? Only if you live in Sedona!),  a  violent attack or a sudden reversal of fortune, all seem to have the same message: We are out of balance, and the control we believed we had in our life has somehow evaporated, leaving us feeling frightened and alone, out of control.  Sometimes when a crisis occurs,  what we once relied upon to give us direction and courage may no longer provide us with an understanding of how to deal with the situation at hand, and we find that our former ways of coping with stress and upheaval simply doesn’t work anymore.  So, maybe we try smoking more cigarettes, having another glass of wine or two, buying another dress and an extra pair of shoes, eating more dessert, watching a few extra movies, having more sex or taking pills to “calm down”, all fail to provide the comfort and relief we seek, or they do so only temporarily,and then the pain reemerges, with an even greater verosity.   The problem is, we try to keep filling the only holes we are aware of, but because those holes are only a symptom of the much larger, unseen holes within us, we keep trying to fill them with the same old stuff, and of course, this does nothing to assuage the problem , because the real problem is hidden deep below the surface of our awareness. 

Our real problem stems from our lack of understanding about our own true nature.  How can we understand ourselves and function optimally when we don’t even have an awareness of who we really are and why we are here? It would be like trying to exist as a bird, without having an awareness of what wings are and how to use them!   Imagine how frustrating and depressing it would be to be a bird, and to have an overwhelming, instinctive  urge to fly, but without having the knowledge of what those two feathery, flapping appendages are on both sides of our bodies?  It’s a form of ignorance, and when that ignorance occurs, it is as if we have forgotten who we really are.  So then, we go through life dragging these wings around as we stay bound and unnecessarily imprisoned on the earth by gravity, while we have this hidden, but very real anguish because our instinctive nature to soar is being suppressed by our ignorance.   This is the predicament we find ourselves in as Human Beings.  We are so much more than we believe ourselves to be, yet most of us are so caught up in our day to day material lives that we do not look beyond it.  We peck at the crumbs, when the whole world of nectarous flowers belong to us!  This world is but a pale reflection of the beauty, the sweetness, the joy, the love and the truth that we are each a part of.  We are of infinite Light and Love.  It is our True Nature , and yet we believe ourselves to be these tiny, mortal bodies that some day return to the dirt from which they came.

The Truth is that these tiny, fragile bodies are the very least of whom we are, and their death is insignificant in the long run.  In Truth, we are Eternal Light and Consciousness, Love and Beauty, Wisdom and Truth.   Within these fragile and impermanent bodies, it is that Light, Love, Truth and Consciousness that is our True Essence, and our True Essence will always show us the way to True Healing, the healing that comes from harnessing the Power, Light, Understanding, Beauty, Grandeur, Peace and Bliss of our own Divinity. 

May all Beings Everywhere be Happy, Free, Healthy, and Filled with all that they Need.  May Peace Prevail On Earth!  Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, Om.

With Love & Blessings, Always

Sanatani Maa   xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Some of the Many Ways in Which We Can Incorporate Qualities that Will Allow us to Be all that We Can Be: Peaceful & Content

               ~The Seven Gifts of a Loving Universe~

Gifts that Allow us to Be Better Healers because we are at Peace and Content with Who we are and What we do:

1. The Gift of Patience.
Patience not only makes it possible for us to bear the anguish and trauma of life. Patience also gives us the opportunity, if we will, to persevere — to follow our dream and discover who we truly are.

2. The Gift of Humility.
Where would we be without humility? Humility opens the door to wisdom and intuition. It makes it possible for us to change, and to grow. If we realize we have believed a lie, for example, or our attitude to someone was wrong — we can change. Humility makes it possible to find meaning and wholeness.

3. The Gift of Courage.
Courage is the vital creative power that makes it possible for us not only to meet the challenges of our lives but to follow our dream and embrace the unique gift we came into the world to give.

4. The Gift of Compassion.
Compassion is one of the most precious gifts this universe has to give. Compassion not only sees the pain of the world, but paradoxically sees the incredible beauty and oneness back of creation.

5. The Gift of Happiness.
The world has done a good job of convincing us that happiness is outside us and requires struggle and searching to be known. But happiness was given us at birth. All we have to do is be still and remember our true inheritance – the authentic happiness that already exists at the core of our being.

6. The Gift of Freedom.
Nothing needs to change in your life or mine for us to be free. You can be free right now regardless of your circumstances and the truth is you are free right now as you surrender to the timeless presence of your own eternal Self.

7. The Gift of Love.
You are loved. The universe sees you, and admires you, and loves you, because you are part of Itself. The universe would not exist if you did not exist. Again, there has been a lot of brainwashing done over the centuries to convince us we are miserable sinners, alone and rejected in a barren, hostile world. But don’t you believe it. The universe is kinder, wiser, and infinitely more loving than our mind could possibly begin to imagine. The trouble is what our mind doesn't understand it tends to see as alien and separate from itself. We will never understand the universe, of course. But we can love it and respect it and be thankful for it. And in some moment when we are still — when our heart is open — we can feel its deep, unshakable love for us.

~ Christopher Foster, from the book: Aging into Bliss

About the Art of Surrender:

A Letter to My Nursing Soul Sisters (and Brothers), Everywhere:

My Beloved Sister,

I could hear the pain in your voice and feel the utter fatigue and exhaustion in your energy, and that deeply concerns me. You are pushing yourself far beyond the limits that your body and mind can tolerate. It is time to Surrender. What I mean by that is, you need to gather all the concerns you have for your family, your patients, your coworkers, and loved ones; and rather than trying to do it all yourself as you see fit, gather all of those concerns, all of the anxiety, all of the pain and confusion, and without conditions, offer it all to your own Higher Power;  God, Allah, Jesus, Mohammad, Divine Mother, Christ or whomever it is that you call upon when your Spirit needs Wisdom, Counsel, Relief, Peace and Unconditional Loving Support. Offer it all to Him/Her, as God knows each one of us better than we know ourselves. He/She knows our strengths, our weaknesses, our karmas that we came here in this lifetime to deal with, He/She knows the highest and best path we must tread in order for all of that stuff to be worked out. 

Yet, we still feel the necessity to carry the whole bag of boulders on our own shoulders. 

I have found that this simply does not work, and by taking the whole bag onto our own shoulders, thinking that we have to know all the answers, leaves no room for Mystery and Miracles. Sometimes, in order for us to really learn a lesson, we need to be fully in it; to experience it in all it's messy totality, to be immersed in it completely. Only then can we really understand, and make corrections. This is true for all of us. We have certain things that we came here to master, but we can not master them until we totally understand them. Sometimes we have to let our patients, our coworkers, our children and our loved ones find out for themselves as they experience the lessons of life. Our skills as a nurse or clinician are indeed limited, no matter how much education & training we may have.  We are often humbled by a situation where it seems that there is nothing more we can do, and we are left feeling helpless and impotent, or, in our discomfort, we either push our own, limited agenda on someone, or we can let go of our limited and sometimes dysfunctional ways of communicating and surrender to the simplicity and comfort of "Beingness". 

Often, the greatest gift we can offer someone is the gift of our presence, in a loving and supportive way.  In Social Work lingo, this is called "using yourself as an instrument".  Our Spiritual Heart is the subtle version of our physical heart, and it is found in the chest region, called the Fourth Chakra, or energy center.  When we are aware of this spiritual energy that radiates from the Heart Chakra, we can consciously utilize it by radiating it outward with our breath and our thoughts.  It has enormous power, if you work on strengthening it through daily meditation. This is when the simple gift of presence, along with the energy of love that emanates from using the Self as an instrument of Peace and Love is so important, and it is often completely underutilized.   By the simple gift of your presence & awareness, you are supercharging the space you are in with peace and acceptance of what is, & you stand beside those patients and loved ones as a Luminous Guide, a Lamp of Wisdom and and most importantly an Incarnation of Unconditional Love. That is your gift to them. Nothing else is necessary. You are their Greatest Gift, and you have within you the capacity to do it with more Love and Wisdom than you ever realized you had within you. 

 You are Precious. Yet, you need to learn how to surrender the bag of boulders that you constantly have hanging over your shoulders, dragging you down, and possibly killing you with it's weight. Because ultimately, God is their True parent, and God is our True Parent. By learning how to surrender and offer the control back to Him/Her, we are acknowledging that God knows better than we do, what needs to be done, and at the right time, in the right way, and in the proper doses.  Surrender does not mean that you are letting go of your concerns for your patients, your friends, colleagues and loved ones; in fact, it is quite the opposite. By giving the control back to the Divine, you are releasing the weight of all the frustration, pain, grief, agony, resentment, fear and confusion to a Higher Power who can take it all into The Divine Heart, with the Strong Intention and Belief that God has the Immense Love and Power to Transmute and Transform even the most hopeless of situations, no matter what the outcome may be.  I try to Practice Surrender in every moment of every day, and the comfort, peace and stillness it brings me is beyond words, and Magical & Miraculous things happen because of it.  When I forget, and I go back into worry and control mode, chaos comes crashing in again.  Just Let Go, Sister. Offer that Huge Bag of Boulders to God, Unconditionally. Trust and Faith are your Companions now.

As much as we'd like to think that we have the power to change what needs to be changed, heal what needs to be healed, support what needs to be supported, and wave our magic wand so that all will be well with the world, we simply don't have that power. The only one we have power over is ourselves. Really, after all these years of being a Mother-to-all, what I have finally realized is that our power comes from LOVE alone. It is the Power of Your Love that works to Heal and to Caress, to Comfort and to Console, to allow someone to be who they are, make mistakes and to also learn from their mistakes by taking responsibility for them and learning from them. Each of us has both gifts and challenges that we bring with us when we incarnate into this world. Some of us have more gifts than challenges, and vice versa. You are one of those Precious and Powerful Souls that comes here with an amazing amount of Gifts that you offer freely to the world. You are an Amazing and Beautiful incarnation of the Divinity. Everyone you touch is changed in some special way, just by being near you. There is no need for you to carry everything on your own shoulders; that just makes everything more difficult and brings you down in the process. Think of God as being a Super-Computer that carries all knowledge and wisdom within itself, in addition to being the Cosmic Generator of Love. Why would you want to carry around a heavy bag of everyone's problems and sorrows when you have access to the Cosmic Super Computer that has the ability to see all, to know all and to solve all manner of problems in a way that we simply can't?  Beloved Sister, Let Go and Let God! Deepen your Faith in in whatever you consider to be your "Higher Power", and Trust that It is there to find the most creative solutions to all problems if you would just let go and give them over,  with Consummate Faith and Trust. If you don't, then I fear that we will loose you to a heart attack or stroke, because you have carried this heavy load for so long. Please consider what I am trying to say, and know that I am saying this out of my deep Respect and Love for you. The world needs you, Sweet One. You are so Precious, and you came here to complete the Dharma (Responsibility) of carrying on an Ancient Lineage, a Sisterhood of Healing. This is your Gift to the world. Do not doubt yourself or entertain fears that are not based in reality. Cultivate your faith in yourself and in your intimate connection to Divinity, in whatever form that takes for you.  Leave the bag of boulders behind and move ahead in faith and trust that God will not only carry it for you, God will transform and transmute it all in the proper way.  Oh, and the Mystery and Miracles I spoke of earlier, well, when we are in the sacred space, even the most confusing of issues can have perfect answers that get whispered into your ear, out of the blue, simply because you were connected to your Higher Power, and you were Listening. 

 Please know that you make a great difference in the life of all the people you serve  and care for, and whether or not you hear that appreciation, the Universe sees it and recognizes each and every act of Kindness, Love, Patience, Empathy, Support, Wisdom, Skill & Competence, Compassion and Respect that you offer to others.  You are Precious, Sweet Sister/Brother. I honor your work as a Healer, and I am always here for you, whenever you need me.

With Love & Peace,

Sanatani Maa

P.S.:  For all you beautiful Male Nurses out there, please forgive me, Brothers, for using "She".  You are precious, caring and wonderful "Instruments", and we are so Blessed to share this journey together.

Acceptance of What is, Leads to the Greatness of what Can Be...

“Accept what is happening in your life, then act. Embrace whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Embrace the whole of the experience with appreciation for what the mystery is behind the reality that is playing out. With this attitude, your whole life will miraculously transform, in ways you can’t yet Imagine!"

“My circumstances, whatever they may be, do not define me. My intrinsic Worth, Connectedness to my Divine Nature and the Unbounded Love, Light & Spirit is my Truth & my Reality. I am an Incarnation of Healing,  Love and Peace."

~Sanatani Maa

Creating an Atmosphere Of Healing & Support within Hospital Settings: Serving the Needs of Both Patients and Staff

                                                                              

Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals providing direct patient care in hospitals, and the quality of care for hospital patients is strongly linked to the performance of nursing staff, according to an Institute of Medicine report.  In the first post of this Luminous Nursing Blog, I began to address the number one reason that most Nurses do not survive beyond the first three to four years of working in a hospital setting, and that number one reason is, of course, burn-out.  Burn-out is a condition whose symptoms include extreme stress created by unreasonable demands made upon nurses by doctors &  administration, overload of patient care and dysfunctional family dynamics on the ward with patients who are very ill,  excessive paperwork, charting and administrative demands, anxiety regarding whether or not one is perceived as functioning at full capacity & adequately as a Nurse, long shifts with no relief and often no breaks for meals or fresh air, and poor dynamics between nurses on the wards, as well as ill-equipped Nursing Leaders who actually have very little leadership training, thus leaving nurses without support and direction.  Sounds pretty bleak, doesn't it?

According to a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 10/2012,  throughout the past few decades, U.S. hospitals have faced cyclical shortages of nurses; in 2000 an estimated 126,000 hospital nursing positions were unfilled.  The percentage of nurses working in hospitals dropped from 59 percent in 2000 to a little more than 56 percent in 2004.  The current nurse shortage is driven by a broad set of factors related to recruitment and retention, among them, fewer workers, an aging workforce, and unsatisfying work environments, that have contributed to a different kind of shortage that is more complex, more serious, and expected to last longer than previous shortages. 

Too few new nurses are being trained (largely because of a shortage of nursing school faculty), but to a greater extent, the current shortage results from the reluctance of newly educated nurses to make their careers in hospitals. Nurses cite stress-related burnout and the large amount of time they must spend on non-nursing tasks as top reasons for feeling dissatisfied with their jobs; 43 percent of nurses report that they plan to leave their jobs within three years.  Thus, the average age of hospital nurses is in the mid-forties.

On average, nurses work eight and a half weeks of overtime every year.  Recent studies continue to show that taking care of too many patients and working overtime and long shifts (twelve &  sixteen-hour shifts are not uncommon) are associated with medical errors and poorer quality of care.

It would be correct to say that a kind of vicious cycle surrounds the nursing profession. Fewer people are working in nursing, which has led to a shortage. Because of the shortage, nurses who remain in hospital work must care for more patients under increasingly difficult working conditions. Because of these strained working conditions, more nurses leave the hospital workforce, thereby worsening the shortage and making recruitment of new nurses more difficult.  This is most certainly a vicious cycle that never ends, unless these vital issues are addressed adequately.

                                                                                

The nurse shortage also has important cost implications for hospitals. Although estimates vary widely, the cost of recruiting and training one new nurse for a medical-surgical floor is usually equal to 100 percent of a nurse’s annual salary, ($42,000–$60,000); that investment is much higher for an intensive care or emergency department (ED) nurse.

It is of vital importance that we must be concentrating on the underlying issues that can make the hospital a more appealing and functional workplace for Nurses and other hospital personnel.   This includes improving the work place culture among Nurses and administration,  along with other staff.  The RDW foundation’s objective is to help convert hospitals into places that are designed to promote healing, not just provide treatment; places where workers are engaged and supported in their jobs, and places where better work processes and culture increase institutional vitality and enhance patient care.  Now this is what we are talking about when we say that Change is necessary in order for transformation to take place in the field of Medicine and in Patient Care, and an important part of the change must come in the name of Caring for our Nurses.  Without Nurses, and Nurses Aides , there would be no care and no hospitals, as Nurses are the linch pins that hold a hospital together.  

Hospital nurses have difficult, demanding jobs; they need to feel inspired by their work and supported as professionals if optimal patient care is to be achieved.  In addition, a hospital is supposed to be a place in which healing is created and promoted on every level, from the quality of compassionate and competent care that is offered, to supporting the patient's needs for privacy, protection, serenity, nutritious meals, beauty, spiritual support, creativity, and a healing atmosphere.  All of these services  provide an opportunity for Healing and Restoration on every level.  This can also include the elements of Alternative Medicine that promote healing and emotional & spiritual support, including  Medical Massage, Acupuncture, Yoga, Meditation, Music Therapy, Therapeutic Touch, and Art therapy.  These modalities must also be offered to the Nurses and Staff, whose vulnerability to depression, addiction and burn-out issues create a slew of problems that can be completely avoided if we simply took good care of the Care -givers.  The level of Care that is also offered to staff as well as patients creates harmony among staff and a feeling of well being and appreciation that they are so deserving of.   In addition, there should be a Nurse Mentor who is available to support Nurses and assist them with issues such as burn-out and stress related symptoms.  These simple, low cost modalities create a general feeling of well being and tolerance, and an atmosphere of support and respect.

                                                                                                      With Love & Peace,

                                                                                                                 Sanatani Maa

From Burned Out Nurse to Luminous Healer: It's Your Choice. Be The Change!

                                                                                

Welcome to my Blog!  For all of you Nurses who have been Selflessly applying your life toward the Care, Healing and Transformation of your Patients, I applaud you! This Blog is for you; in support of you.  Whether you are a Nursing Student, a New Grad, exploring what you will do with your education now that you graduated, or a burned out vintage nurse, ready to drop out of the Nursing Field forever, I applaud You All, and I understand what life is like for you, because I am one of you.  You have given much of your life to care for people you don't even know, even when they have no appreciation for all the overwhelming stress, pain, exhaustion, burn-out you carry on their behalf, and for whom you have given up holidays with family, nights of restful sleep, and a normal eight hour work day, among other things.  Either way, Nursing is extremely demanding on so many levels, and if we do not take care of ourselves, we will most certainly fall into the downward spiral of Burn-Out.  This Blog is, in part, here to address this issue of Toxic Burn-Out not only in nursing, but in most groups of people who serve in the medical arena;  how it came to be, how it penetrates into the very core of the medical field and all who work within it.  How it can be a mirror for the dysfunction, ignorance, lack of awareness and utter lack of Healing that is the hallmark of modern day medicine.

This Blog is being offered as a way in which we, as Nurses & Healers can come together to create a better way of Being and of Serving.  We will attempt to work with all Nurses and Healers who are interested in Transformation of the Nursing Role and of Medicine, so that True Healing can take place within ourselves and with our Patients and their families.  We are going to bring about a Transformation of Medicine by utilizing The Healing Ways, both Ancient and New.  We will assist each other in becoming Instruments of Awareness, Healing, Love, Compassion and Truth, for it is only by transforming ourselves that we can hope to have any effect on the Healing of Others.  We are going to Reclaim the Heart & Soul of Healing by becoming Instruments of Transformation.  We will begin to study many of the ancient ways that have proven themselves over and over again, and we will integrate  those ways into the Transformation Healing ways of the Integrative Nurse.  We will study the ways of Consciousness, Awareness, Meditation, Prayer and Mantra.  We will explore the use of Herbs, supplements, Massage, Nutrition, Inner Energy Work, Breath Work, Yoga Postures, Mudra, Spiritual Power Tools, Integrative Medicine, Inner Alchemy and so much more.  This is the True Nursing Renascence.  Come and Join me, and let your Inner Healer Emerge in Full Power & Light!

                                                               

How many nurses do you know, including yourself (although it is so much easier to see those symptoms in others than it is to see it in yourself) who are in the throws of burn-out, to one degree or another?  Do you remember the term, Horizontal Violence, that we used in Nursing School to describe the work-place culture of the hospital environment in which everyone is working way beyond their own limits, stressed-out beyond measure, irritable, angry, frustrated and looking for someone to dump it on.  This group behavior grows and grows over time, and unless checked by at least one enlightened and conscious supervisor or manager, it becomes a form of workplace brutality. Yes, Brutality.  Inevitably, nurses take their stress and misery out on each other, hence, the term horizontal violence.  Does it have to be like this?  No, it most certainly does not.  Human beings were designed to evolve over time, and although I admit that most human beings seem to lack the ability to see and understand their own behavior,  thus making all of us suffer,  we have the capacity to learn and to grow.  Thus, as ape-like as we can be at times, we still have the capacity to shift our perceptions of what is, and to take a step toward the possibility of growth, enhanced understanding, greater awareness of how we interact with those around us, and how we can use our own "Potential-For-Goodness" in a Healing Way, a way that will bring Ease and Comfort, Love and Kindness into our environment, to be used as an agent of Healing Energy & Mutual Support and Encouragement rather than Brutality.  Do you see what I mean?  We have a choice.

                                                    

We always have a choice, in every situation in life.  I have been studying with a Beautiful Saint from India for decades now, and in India, there are many words that are used to describe subtle ideas and states of being that are normally very difficult to describe.  Take for instance, the Sanskrit word "Vasana".  A vasana can be defined as any subconscious quality that affects character. A Vasana can be described as a karmic residue, unconscious propensities, disposition, habit energy, thought, habit formation, habitual thoughts,  potential tendencies, habitual thoughts and habits that are present and active, but also below that level of the person's awareness, therefore unconscious in nature.  
So much of our thought patterns and perceptions are unconscious, and therefore they play out in a group environment in a way that can be damaging to the group as a whole, with everyone running around with unresolved, yet unconscious emotional patterns that get activated when others in the group incite a "churning of the pot," so to speak.  When you have a bunch of stressed out, unconscious people together, generally the pot is always simmering, and it takes only one small incident to get the pot heated up to a rolling boil over.  Once it boils over, there is no turning back; the damage has been done and more than likely, someone has gotten burned.  

                                                        
                                                   
Yet, if that is the case, than the opposite can also be true.  When people are together daily, usually under difficult, stressful circumstances such as in a hospital environment,  those deep vasanas have many occasions to make themselves known to us.  Hummm.  This is the gift, if we choose to pay attention to what those vasanas are trying to tell us.  The Gift is embedded in our ability to listen to what is arising within us as we are being triggered by someone else's words or actions.  In order for this gift to utilized, we must be able to stand back from our own thought processes and pay attention to what our subconscious mind is churning out for us to look at.  When this happens, we have many opportunities to simply pay attention to what is there, within us. It is in that rare moment of clarity and silence that we can make peace with what is there within us, waiting to be released from that dark place where it has been held captive, unable to be expressed. In that perfect moment, we can really begin to  understand the concept of compassion, for ourselves and for everyone else. This is where we all must begin.

The process of meditation is like this.  Meditation is nothing more than an attempt to give the mind a rest, by slowing down the incessant flow of thoughts that constantly assail us.  When one shuts ones eyes and attempts to calm the mind by emptying it of all thoughts, at first, this seems like a monumental and completely impossible task.  Thoughts will rise up, again and again, like an infinite supply of soldiers on the battlefield, where, when one gets shot down, a thousand more rise up against you.  When you pay attention to all the thoughts going through your mind, at first, the mind will rise up against you and the thoughts will come to you with even greater force, kicking, screaming and yelling all the way.  Is is only when we begin to use a counter force against this incessant flow of thoughts, such as a sound, a mantra or a prayer, used with repetition and concentration, that we are able to slowly find release from the hold our thoughts have on us.  As we learn to make meditation a daily practice and use this discipline to create order in our hearts and minds, that the hold our mind had over us slowly relaxes and we can perceive what is actually behind that flow of thoughts.  Once we establish this practice, the fruits of this discipline is deep inner peace, a sweetness that was never there before, and a sense of being connected to all that is.  Our minds shine with a new Light and a new Bliss.  We find ourselves being "happy for no reason," and our vibration, or the spiritual energy that we radiate out into the world, begins to have a powerful effect on those around us, even if they don't perceive it.  Yes, then we can really change the world, including those we work with, and those we care for.  Then, one day, Burn-Out will be a thing of the past.