conscious change Archives - Page 29 of 46 -

Successful Navigation–A Lesson From Dolphins

By Simone Lipscomb | July 14, 2016

Dolphins sleep by using half of their brains to function in their watery world while the other half rests. While swimming with them, many times I noticed one eye would be closed as they swam within inches of me. I swam along as part of the pod while they moved together in union….breathing, swimming in some kind of perfect balance of waking consciousness and rest or perhaps even meditation.

Perhaps they synthesize their minds by bridging two states of consciousness at once. What if we could do that. What if we could bring the state of deep peace and calm to waking consciousness, to our everyday life as it’s happening. No question about it. We can.

As an experiment I went into meditation and reached that deep, calm place within my mind. Then I intentionally brought up a recent experience of being bullied. Holding the state of peace while allowing the scenario to appear in my mind completely discharged the intense emotions of fear and frustration attached to the series of events. I found I could be an observer of something that just a few days ago was quite traumatic.

This ability to hold deep peace and calm while being actively engaged in everyday life can be cultivated by all humans. First, we practice mindfulness and cultivate the practice of stilling the mind. We can be like dolphins living in a state of mindfulness while functioning in the world. This then is transformation in action. It begins with ourself and then transforms the world. This is one way we can successfully navigate our way through troubled times.

Another World

By Simone Lipscomb | June 24, 2016

When I attempt to write about the experience of being surrounded by thirty-three dolphins, it feels as if it’s contained in a bubble of reality outside mainstream reality. It’s the same way when I visit humpback whales in their realm. A big part of me enters into a world, a dreamtime, of magic and wonder that feels more real than the materialistic shadow world in which most people live.

Each time I return from a journey like this it’s more difficult to force myself to fit back into a reality I want little part of….mainstream news, reality shows, materialistic focus, greed, ego, selfishness, more-more-more mentality. Perhaps the reason it’s difficult is that I simply don’t want to return to that world.

Yet I function in the ‘Matrix’ and hopefully bring some of the reality of joy and Oneness into it, rather than completely cut myself off from it. It’s challenging.

It is my sincere intention to unleash the wild, nearly unimaginable beauty of Oneness into this heavy, dark time in which we find ourselves. Profound beauty is available, not just in dolphin pods or humpback whale gatherings, in everyday reality; however, something has to inspire us to change and move toward a lighter reality.

We can move beyond consumer mentality as we begin to realize the hell it is.When we dare taste the sweetness that is possible when our focus changes from more-more-more to Oneness, a new Earth can be birthed.

Mandala of the Heart

By Simone Lipscomb | June 23, 2016

We were heading out to visit the dolphins and I found a quiet place at the front of the boat. I went within myself and opened my mind to dolphins.

After a while I began getting a visual image of two pink hearts that were intertwined. Then the two hearts expanded into an entire mandala of pink hearts. It was beautiful and it felt as if the dolphins gave me this image. I felt my heart open as I concentrated on it.

After the meditation ended I rejoined the group and we continued on and on….no dolphins for a very long time. And when we found them, they were in very murky, green water.

After easing into the water I noticed my mask was leaking profusely…to the point where it was filling completely with water even though I cleared it. I couldn’t see my camera readouts so I exited the water.

The camera went to a safe place, the mask got fixed and I entered the water again with the only intention of opening to an encounter with dolphins…nothing more. No photographs, no swimming hard to keep up. I simply invited the dolphins to join me and asked if I could join them and kept the image of the pink heart mandala in my mind.

I swam away from the main group of humans and found myself suddenly surrounded by mother spotted dolphins and their babies. One mom and calf…another mom and calf…another mom and calf. I had three mothers and their babies surrounding me, more beneath me and when I glanced back still more were coming. There was a minimum of 16 spotted dolphins surrounding me and possibly as many as 20.

As I gently swam side-by-side with the dolphins I was overcome with emotion….I could scarcely believe I was welcomed into the pod of dolphins who glided beside me as if I was one them. I wept profusely as I gently swam within arm’s reach of the largest female and her calf. And all the while the mandala of pink hearts remained in my mind.

I became one of the pod today as I surrendered to the gentle flow of love permeating everything around me….and within me. I felt welcomed back into my family, a lineage of wisdom that is indescribable.

It was as if I was welcomed home. Not in a geographical sense but rather a home within my heart and mind.

Lately I have had the feeling of coming full circle in my life, as if I’ve completed a very long and arduous journey to reach a place of completion that will give rise to a new beginning. Many years ago dolphins called me into this life and now they have helped me find a new beginning point.

Call me crazy, it doesn’t matter. I am home within myself and all is well. Oh, yes……all is well.

Later I got out my camera and captured one photo from the day...and it was enough. — *Later I got out my camera and captured one photo from the day…and it was enough.*

Lessons from a Sting Ray

By Simone Lipscomb | June 22, 2016

Taking underwater photographs in bad viz is not something I’d normally attempt. Murky water and strobes yield backscatter. But when there’s opportunity to play with stingrays….

The challenge brought by unclear water is to make the subject appear clear when everything around it is filled with particles of sand and grass and anything else stirred into the soupy mix. In the creative process of underwater photography, you have to be willing to use your skills or learn new ones to achieve the desired results.

Life is like that. We want it to be obstacle-free. And yet, it’s the obstacles that hone our skills and help us develop into well-balanced individuals. If it was easy we’d never feel our strength. A diamond doesn’t become a precious gem without immense pressure. It’s the pressure that turns a lump of carbon into a valuable stone.

This is Love

By Simone Lipscomb | June 3, 2016

Trying to communicate love isn’t always easy. The word has so many different meanings. For some, it means sex. For others it may mean possession. Others might think of love as obligation. Everyone has a personal spin on what it means resultant of their own experience of relationship.

When you tell someone you love them, their filters of personal experience can possibly change what your intention was. And then things get messy and people might respond as if you are the one who originally taught them about love in relationship. Painful experiences can follow us throughout our lives and we expect love to bring the gut-wrenching punch we first felt when someone we loved acted in an unloving way. It can be confusing.

Dion Fortune, one of my favorite writers, wrote this, “The personality must be healed so the power can come through clear.” This has been my quest for decades now…heal my personality flaws so that I can be a clearer channel for love. This isn’t easy. It’s not a path for the faint of heart. We must be willing to open ourselves completely and make horrible fools of ourselves when, in our openness, we stumble. But if we have the courage to be that open, to be that vulnerable and to feel so deeply to clear our personality flaws, then only good will result.

When I say, I love you, think of the chimpanzee hugging Jane Goodall when he is released after she rescued him (see video above). That’s just pure love without expectation or labels. It’s the nameless experience of unconditional positive regard…light manifested through action. The monkey isn’t asking Jane for anything. He is simply allowing an energy of pure love to move through his open heart with nothing attached, nothing expected.

Romantic love doesn’t interest me nor does possession of anyone or expectation of anyone. I want to live in the space of open-hearted communication and communion with the world. To those that mean the most to me I wish to be able to clearly show love without it being misconstrued as something it’s not. We can’t control how others receive the love we express so the only thing I know to do is to keep loving…purely, without expectation and with my whole heart.

I think animals are such channels for love because they don’t live in the past. They simply allow their open hearts to bring forth the magic of light manifested through action. When I watched mother humpback whales and their calves interact this past February it was crystal clear that love was guiding them. It was the most exquisite expression of love I’ve ever seen.

Perhaps this is why I have always appreciated animals so much. We understand each other without thinking about it or wondering what it means….I love you….and you….and you….and you…….I love you.