Lightening Up

The phrase "lightening up" has several meanings which have value for us. The most familiar refers to lightening up our attitudes, letting go of heavy emotional burdens. We feel heavy when we are burdened with serious issues and important changes.

There are several ways to address these issues. Having someone to listen to us and focus on what we are saying, perhaps offering help, but often we can lighten our load simply by having someone to talk to about our concerns can help us feel better.

When I am doing any kind of reading for a person, this is part of the process, and then by asking for help from our spirit guides, which I do every day, solutions may present themselves after the layers are peeled back. What may be revealed is that the initial concern expressed is not the core of the issue, but once the surface concerns are examined, the core issues can be addressed directly. The various kinds of coaching and consulting I offer is one way to delve in and remove burdensome weight so that a person can clearly see what needs to be done next.

One of my favorite simple home remedies for relieving stress is to turn on some comedy and laugh. Laughter raises vibrations because the genius of comedians is to offer us a different perspective to view our lives, situations and relationships. There has been medical research done to show that laughter can stimulate the body's own healing systems, healing cells, hormones, and so on to facilitate a relaxed flow of energy. In my opinion, the fastest acting comedy are the stand up comedians, as compared to sitcoms. A good stand up comedian, man or woman, works fast. When they are on stage alone, they have to be on, their sharpened wits moving at full speed. I have seen stand ups who can keep the audiences in stitches for an hour or two straight. To me that is the height of the form because it is simply that person with their wits, their expressions, their voices keeping the audiences entranced. There are no other actors, no background music, no plot, just one person with an audience. Live shows are fabulous, but if you are at home and just need a little lightening up, try Netflix. In their streaming videos, there are lots of stand ups. I try people I have never heard of as well as old favorites. That's a great way to discover new talent. And if you start to watch one and you don't like it, just turn it off and try another one.

Then after, you will also have some new jokes to tell when you get together with others. Years ago, I worked as a straight commission salesman and a guy I worked with was a big fan of stand up and he got me hooked. He was a great salesman and one of his methods was that he always had jokes to tell so that when he went to a meeting he could get the customer to lighten up before going into the sale, and that opened them up to listen to him. Even aside from sales, when you are working with a group of people on a committee, or your every day co-workers or just out with friends, telling a joke is a great way to break the ice. At a party, a person who can tell a joke adds levity to the gathering and gets people smiling.

Another aspect of lightening up is with energy work. You have probably heard some people refer to themselves as lightworkers. In a general way, this is about the energy work we do. Reiki is one of the best known, and there are many others, including pranic and tantric to yoga, tai chi, chi gong to shamanic work and other methods. By doing energy work, we can remove energy blockages and facilitate the free flow of good energy that help a person get unstuck and actually feel a lightness in their body, which can help ease physical pain, emotional discomfort, and bring mental clarity and spiritual peace and strength. Most of these are very comfortable and non-invasive, where you are awake and clothed, perhaps reclining on a massage table or a pad.

Lightworkers also use meditation, visualization and positive thinking as tools to help a person turn their life around. These methods can certainly help lighten a person's load by clearing off confusing, negative and limiting thoughts so that they can focus on a vision for the future, which begins in the present moment.

Music is another great method for lightening up. We all know how singing a favorite tune while working helps make the work flow easier and adds energy, making time seem to go by quickly.  

Another aspect of music is making it as a way of boosting energy. In many spiritual traditions, singing and chanting, especially call and response types can elevate a person's mood and energies. Singing in these ways is never about who has the best voice, rather it is all about everyone combining their voices to make music together. Playing drums, rattles and percussion in a circle with others is a magical method. I used to lead a lot of drumming circles and I saw bunches of strangers get together in a room or around a fire, and within minutes, people who never saw each other before would be playing together. Within moments, a group could be transformed, a group of individuals learning to work together to create something beautiful without much instruction. As one of my teachers used to say: "A person who has trouble with drumming has trouble with listening."

And then there is dancing. You can go to dances in bars or concert halls, you can go to community dances in dance halls where there is no drinking, just dancing. And like I suggested with stand up, you can just put on your favorite music in your home and dance until you work up a good sweat. If you are the only one there, you do not have to give one thought to what someone else thinks of your dancing style. Another teacher of dance was Gabrielle Roth who wrote about dance in books like "Maps to Ecstasy" and "Sweat Your Prayers." By the time you have danced for a half hour or more, your burdens will have lightened and you will feel a great wave of energy pulsing through you. It is a great form of exercise.

So you see, we lightworkers work in a number of ways. You can use psychic readings, past lives, tarot, runes, dream interpretations, numerology and other methods to see through the veils. And you can lighten your body, mind, and spirit with energy work. You can laugh, drum, sing and dance to bring more light into your life.

And the more you bring in light, the more you open the way for love. Remember that all our decisions come from either love or fear. Lightening helps release fear so that there is a pathway open to bring more love into your life. In this way, romantic love is only one aspect. There is also love and relationship with everyone else in our lives including family, friends, co-workers, associates, vendors, neighbors and all of the people we interact with every day.

So you can implement some of these ideas just as soon as you read this, and if you want to try some of the others, just ask me. I will be happy to help.