Opening To Receive – finding ways to accept all you
need and deserve.
Opening a present is one thing – ripping open the
paper in excitement to get at what’s inside, admiring
the gift, and accepting it. We can probably all do that
fairly well! More difficult, perhaps, is being able
to receive some of the other gifts that life has to offer
– for example, the love that others have to give us,
the wisdom that people have to share, the help that is on
offer, the great job, the fantastic relationship. Those
more intangible things!
We give with our right, masculine, active side. Ideally,
there should be balance – giving and receiving equally.
The left side of the body is our feminine, receptive side.
I often notice a kind of deadness here when I am doing healing
for people. We’re so busy giving and doing that
sometimes we forget how to receive! How open is your
left side? As an experiment, try using your left hand
for a while and notice how easy or difficult that is.
Does it feel strange? The extent to which it feels strange
is the extent to which you may be disconnected from this side
of yourself.
Before we can receive, we need to be aware of what is being
offered, and be open to it! This comes down to our beliefs,
which form the computer program that drive us and totally
colour our experience. For example, if you believe ‘no
one loves me’ what do think your experience of other
people is going to be like? Rather cold and unsatisfying!
You won’t even notice the love that is coming towards
you! Whereas, if you believe ‘everyone loves me
and love is coming towards me all the time’ how much
richer and more enjoyable is your life going to be?
You will notice love coming from all kinds of unexpected sources!
Beliefs can be changed so easily – all you need to do
is write them down, then change any negative ones into positive
new ones. It’s that simple. In this way
we can set ourselves up for a happy life or an unhappy one.
You choose!
Ok. So let’s imagine we are primed with positive
beliefs that are going to allow us to notice good things coming
to us. How to fully receive? Well, we need to
have a belief that we deserve good things. Otherwise
we might close ourself off to it. It is also very common
to fear ‘having it all’. The ego gets in
the way, imagining that somehow we will kind of explode or
be completely overwhelmed if all the good things we wanted
suddenly happened! It’s really very funny that
what we most want is also, often, what we most fear!
We may also fear we will have to go into sacrifice to settle
a debt (ie if we receive too much, we feel we’ll end
up ‘owing’ something that we’ll have to
repay!)
These kinds of fears will lead us to create problems as distractions
when we are afraid to receive. That means, we are just
about to get what we have always wanted, when suddenly a problem
happens. We get sick or there’s a flood or drama
and it just gets in the way. We will continue to create
drama as distraction until we heal the fear of receiving.
Exercise – Burning Through Fear of Receiving
Close your eyes, go deep within, and just dwell there.
From this place, allow yourself to begin to imagine what the
fear that keeps you from receiving might be. Let the
feelings of where you feel threatened, overwhelmed or in sacrifice
come to the surface. Burn through the feelings layer
by layer just by feeling them. The layers may be big,
so you may need to feel it through the course of the day.
Take time to feel it, be willing to burn through each layer
until it’s gone. When it goes, you will be free
to receive.
Hopefully we’ve overcome some of the barriers to receiving.
The next trick is – can you taste it? This yummy,
wonderful thing that you have wanted for so long – now
that you’ve got it, are you here in the moment really
enjoying and savouring it, or is your brain off somewhere
in the future, busily wanting something else? You’re
with someone that you love, the moment is now, what are you
going to create? Worry about the future, or the joy
of looking in their eyes now and telling them you love them?
It has to be, NOW! How can we create joy in the present
moment? We have such a short time here, why not focus
on creating joy in the now? If you are creating an argument
in the now, why? If you are choosing to feel miserable
in the now, why? Why not choose joy? Give a gift
to youself, and to everyone around you, and celebrate the
now.
The final secret – giving is one of the greatest things
you can do, and of course, it will open you to receive more
than you can ever imagine. But you must give freely,
for the love of it, expecting and wanting nothing in return.
Just give for the joy of giving your love. Have fun!
Exercise adapted from ‘If it Hurts it isn’t Love’
by Chuck Spezzano.
NEXT ISSUE: Happiness. What is it and how to get
it?
Jeli Lala is an intuitive visionary with a playful and creative
approach to healing. Her gifts of channeling light and information
from other realms and her loving sensitivity have helped many
people along their path to wholeness. Her healing space,
Ashram, is at no. 1, Sukma St., Tebesaya, Ubud (Opp. Jazz
Café.) Ashram also carries crystals and inspiring
gifts. Tel: 081 239 43354
Jeli welcomes comments and may be contacted on:
Email: jelila@jelila.com
Website: www.jelila.com or www.imagine-retreats.com
