Naomi’s Blog

Where does inspiration come from?

Who gets inspired?

What is the value of inspiration ?

See the world with new eyes

Inspiration is a uniquely human quality, invisible as breath it is nevertheless at the heart of our power to manifest, to create, to solve a problem, to envision the future and fulfil the many powers that define our humanity. The word inspire is derived from inspirare meaning, ‘to breathe into,’ any connection between the breath and an intangible moment of revelation may seem curious to us. But in the past, the voice of inspiration was imbued with an almost mystical power. When creation was viewed as an act of divine intent, human creativity was also seen to be gifted by divine approval. Inspiration was a gift of the spirit, invisibly conceived and divinely bestowed through pneuma meaning breath but also spirit or soul.

Creativity is no longer viewed as a divine imprint but inspiration undoubtedly feeds the soul, the whole person. To be inspired is to be filled with a new breath, to be revitalised and energised for inspiration leads to creative action, an unrealised idea is no more than a stillborn thought.

There is something so remarkable about human creativity that it has often been seen as a mirrored image of divine creation. It is after all the power to bring something into manifest reality, to translate a visionary seed idea into a three dimensional physical form. Moreover inspiration seizes the mind with such vitality that it becomes a driving force and provides the reservoir of personal energy needed to carry the idea into manifestation. The journey from inspired idea to physical reality is invariably fraught with obstacles, new ideas are not always welcomed or even understood and great determination is usually required to carry an idea to its physical birth. Yet the story of creative vision is the story of humanity from our tool making ancestors to our technological contemporaries.

Inspiration is a unique human quality, creativity is your human birthright, the breath of creation belongs to everyone. Yet so often the humdrum demands of life squeeze the last creative breath and conspire to close the door on inspiration. So in the face of life’s many pressures, how may we keep creativity alive and where is inspiration to be found? Inspiration is all around us at every moment, it is on your doorstep, in your home, carried by your loved ones, whispered in your dreams and shining in your spirit. It is impossible not to find inspiration in life unless you choose to do so.  Inspiration is everywhere, but being open to inspiration is a state of mind. Without openness, receptivity and conscious awareness, inspiration may knock at your door but you are unlikely to open it.

Buddhism offers a helpful analogy here. A cracked cup can be filled but it is soon emptied, a full cup has no space for more, but an empty cup is ready to be filled. The cracked cup is ill prepared for its purpose, the full cup is already overbrimming, only the empty cup has space. These three similes refer to states of mind. How might you characterise yourself?

• ill prepared,
• already full of your own ideas
• open and receptive to the possibility of something new

If you want to see creative mind in action, look first to children at play. For the young child every moment is full of possibility and curiosity. Long before the template of formal education begins to take hold, the child lives through the imagination where possibilities are unbounded. Only later do we learn that the imaginary world of play is not identical to the physical world which we inhabit.  However if we totally abandon the imagination in favour of the intellect, then we have lost the key to the door of inspiration.

The long passage into the socialised, educated and workaday world slowly robs us of our childlike qualities, innocence, spontaneity, curiosity, natural joy and openness to experience. These qualities share much in common with the enlightened state of mind. This is also sometimes called the state of no-mind since like the empty cup it is ready to receive. In contrast, the adult mind is ever-full: preconceptions, egoic embellishments, personal projections and preoccupations crowd mental space leaving no room for the imagination or its compatriots.

Imagination, aspiration, visualisation, manifestation and inspiration

The Breath of Inspiration

The imagination, the image making facility of the mind is a powerful tool in the process of mental transformation, hence the popularity of affirming visualisations in the self-help genre. Even though the technique has a solid pedigree, visualisation alone is not a guarantee of manifestation. Though this might be considered heresy, imagination should follow inspiration and not be a substitute for it. It is inspiration that provides the necessary energy and impetus required, the imagination provides the bridge between the idea in its pure form and its manifest reality.

These two, inspiration and imagination walk hand in hand. When visualisation is not rooted in genuine inspiration, it remains only a thin substitute. Desire alone may or may not be enough to provide the momentum necessary to bring physical results to pass. If it were the case, all of our needs, wants and desires would be easily met.

Genuine inspiration is the prime mover behind every field of human endeavour. In contrast to personal desire, inspiration is most often transpersonal since it provides a solution to or is expression of a shared need and even at its most basic an inspired project will draw people towards it like a magnet. The inception of a visionary idea can even feel like a moment of mysterious revelation, a shared breath with the forces of creation from the universal and unbounded realm of spirit and the sustaining power of visionary inspiration is often inspirational to those who hear of its passage from inception to birth.

The gift of creative inspiration belongs to everyone, not merely the outstanding figures of history, it is the special enzyme of human experience which makes us the co-creators of our own existence.

To be inspired means to be infused with a rare quality of enthusiasm. Inspiration and enthusiasm go hand in hand, genuine inspiration produces visible enthusiasm. Enthusiam too carries a mystical weight since the word comes from the ancient Greek word eufousiasmz meaning, to be, inspired by or possessed by God. The two qualities belong together as cause and effect, enthusiasm is our response to inspiration and this divine possession brings passion to experience and a sense of mission and purpose to action. This is the elixir of life, drink deeply of it whenever you can.

Intuition – Inner Tuition

Where is your Iintuition?

I regard myself as an intuitive person I realise that it is too easy to treat intuition as some kind of gift- either you have it or you don’t. But this is a mistake. Intuition like other human qualities can be developed and strengthened.

It is often said that women are more intuitive than men and I feel that this is probably true. Mothering itself constantly calls for an intuitive response, crying babies, upset children, unvoiced requests and the vast range of emotions expressed purely through body language. These daily demands for responsive rapport build a personalised intuitive vocabulary. This is not to deny that men have exactly the same capacity for an intuitive response since it originates in the same evolutionary process but, whereas a women is more likely to act upon intuition, a man is less likely to do so.

I am often asked is being intuitive the same as being psychic, the answer is ‘No’ and it is a mistake to confuse the two. Psychics, mediums and clairvoyants usually speak of working together with intermediaries, helpers, guides, even angelic forces with whom they have developed a long standing and close inner relationship. Our intuitive sense is part of a wider framework rightly called our Spritual Intelligence which might be thought of as our compass in life.

So what purpose does this intuitive voice serve? Well the intuition is the voice of the personal radar system, it is a sense which reads people, surroundings and places. In evolutionary terms this immediate feedback is part of an instinctive survival kit. Even though we no longer face predators, enemies or immanent physical dangers, not everyone we meet will share our best interests. Social interaction still has an instinctive element, it is no exaggeration to say that first impressions count.

Quite recently, I had a personal experience of this. I have a friend who is a landlord for students and we were on our way to meet a new student for the first time. She emerged from a taxi further along the street and began to walk towards us. Quite literally, the second that I saw her, even though she was still some distance away from us, my heart sank. Now this peculiar phrase describes a physiological reaction that you might recognize. It is a distinct body based physical sensation, it lasts only briefly and then it is gone. My instinctive reaction made no sense but it proved to be correct. As time passed this student showed her true colours, she proved to be downright dishonest, deceitful and utterly untrustworthy, she  became the first and  so far only student to be takene to court.

The sixth sense is however more than a residual defence mechanism, the inner instinctive response is not merely reactive but proactive. Though I speak of the inner voice, it would better to think of this personal prompt in broader terms since the message can be carried emotionally or physically as feelings or sensation. These emotional or physical signals stand out simply because they happen infrequently and are quite specific, a prickling on the back of the neck, (‘it made my hackles rise’), hairs rise on the arms, (‘it gave me goosebumps’) or in my case, an unexplained sensation in the heart (‘it made my heart sink’). More commonly, we experience ‘butterflies’ in the stomach when we are stressed or anxious. These physiological signals place the intuitive sensitivity firmly in its evolutionary context as a biological and instinctive warning system. The sixth sense also speaks through our feelings by making us feel ill at ease, disturbed or disquieted. Such feelings are hard to put into words because the trigger for our response is registered in areas of the brain not linked to verbalisation. So we may feel a sense of threat which we cannot explain.

Physiological and emotional responses to external dangers are part of our biological inheritance as human beings. But it is clear that the intuitive sixth sense registers more than mere external threat and is capable of intervening in personal life choices. When our lives are moving in the wrong direction or have become weighed down with difficulty, a whole range of biological and emotional signals will appear. These inner messages ask us to make a change for our own long term good, sometimes radical life changes are required to recreate health and well being. When we are lost in life, our inner alarm will sound without ceasing. Whether we heed it or not is quite another question.

Open the Windows of your Mind

Guidelines to Understanding your Intuition

• Believe that intuition is a natural and helpful part of human nature. Although modern western life places little value on intuitive understanding, imagine for a moment that you inhabit the world of your distant forebears where survival skills are paramount. Your senses would be finely tuned to danger, threat and possibility. Your actions would be guided by an instinctive and immediate knowing, not a deductive and rational analysis. In danger there is no time to think only quick action is demanded. This is the essential nature of intuition, an innate, inner and, immediate response to the situation in which you find yourself. In evolutionary terms the intuition served a protective function and it still does.

• Develop your five senses first. We often talk about the sixth sense as if it were something supernatural and it is often portrayed this way in films or books. This dramatic representation is not helpful or realistic. Intuition is too often confused with pychism and treated like an oracle to be consulted on every occasion no matter how trivial. This is not its purpose.

• The sixth sense, that immediate knowing which transcends the physical senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, is not separate from these daily senses but it is rather the culminating accumulation of all sensory data translated into a single signal demanding action. We commonly say that something is greater than the sum of its parts, and the sixth sense is greater than the sum of the five physical senses.
• Imagine once more that you inhabit the world of your forbears: keen sight and sharp hearing avoid danger, touch brings the security of physical closeness, taste and smell inform you about food and health. We no longer need such sensory sharpness but it is clear that our senses are capable of development. If a major sense such as sight or hearing is damaged, then other senses can become stronger in order to compensate. Our senses are rarely tested by mainly sedentary and ordered lives, instead it requires a conscious act of will to look and see, listen and hear, touch with sensitivity, taste and smell with discrimination. The day to day five senses can be tested and developed in specific ways by isolating each function and then providing relevant experiences.
• When the five senses are sharp, the information stream can produce an intuitive hunch or a sudden breakthrough in understanding, intuition does not arise in a vacuum but is rooted in sensory biological data.

• Give your intuition some practice. My mother was a remarkably intuitive and perceptive person, whenever we went out together even when I was quite young, our conversation always revolved around what was happening whether we were waiting at a bus stop or going to the park. In other words she encouraged me to see and hear, to be engaged with my surroundings. Whenever we were out my mother indulged in, ‘people watching’ – noticing what was written on people’s faces. I still do this now almost unconsciously when I am out and about, standing in a shopping queue for instance. I just can’t help myself and I often fall into conversation with strangers – just like my mum who was genuinely interested in people throughout her life.
• Now this may all seem rather trivial but I learned very early on that people could tell you something without ever speaking and this sometimes applied to places too. I learned very early on in life to tune in to a personal radar which existed through yet beyond the five senses.
• Whenever you are out, just be open to what is happening in your surroundings. People showcase themselves quite unconsciously through body language, posture, facial expression and tone of voice among many other clues. We respond quite instinctively to other people and for the most part we do so without drama or incident but occasionally we might have need to avoid perceived danger or offer assistance to someone in difficulty.

• Become conscious – become aware Hearing and responding to an intuitive message is directly related to our level of conscious awareness. If the intuition speaks through the body or through feelings, we need to have sufficient sensitivity to recognise such signals. This ability is neither given nor fixed but open to development and refinement. Without at least some rudimentary level of awareness, intuitive signals will be missed or ignored. Conscious awareness is not the same as thinking or the stream of consciousness which fills the mind with an incessant white noise. Conscious awareness only arises through specific mental disciple and exercise, namely meditation.
• Although meditation has become increasingly popular and widespread in the west, many of the examples currently offered are not truly meditative but merely rely on the mind’s natural ability for visualisation. Meditation can employ visualisation but visualisation does not always employ meditation! Conscious awareness which is the key to Spiritual Intelligence cannot  arise from prescriptive guided journeys or mental forays into pleasing imagery.
• Conscious awareness is a state of mindfulness, a state of being fully aware in the present moment. Mindfulness Meditation provides the antidote to living mindlessly. This traditional eastern form of meditation places the spotlight of awareness into areas of being generally below our level of consciousness, the body, the breath, the feelings and the content of the mind. Not only does mindfulness practice bring consciousness to the very systems where intuitive messages are registered but this form of meditation develops a detached witnessing consciousness which is essential to the awakening of Spiritual Intelligence.

• What your Intuition is Not What might we reasonably expect from our intuitive sense? Having realistic expectations is essential, falsely inflated hopes will only lead to disappointment. Your intuition can indeed show itself to be remarkable and its functioning raises all sorts of interesting questions about the mind/body/spirit unity. We have done ourselves a great disfavour by dressing the intuitive sense as a supernatural hot-line ready to answer any question on demand. This is the stuff of fiction and drama. Keeping things in perspective does not diminish its value.
• If the intuition is the voice of protection and orientation, then securing a lottery win is unlikely. Nor does every minute decision in life require an intuitive affirmation. Ordinary thinking processes work admirably well in many aspects of life. In our rush to devalue the rational thought processes, we are in danger of placing an over reliance on non-rational sources of information, both have their respective places.
• The innate and instinctive intuitive sense works to keep you safe and to ring alarm bells loudly when your life choices take you into wasteland. Be grateful for that.

Spiritual Intelligence – Do you have it? – Do you want it?

Let your Soul be your Pilot

 

Since the notion of Spiritual Intelligence is central to the idea of a new paradigm, this blog is the first part of an ongoing series which will explore :

• Do you have Spiritual Intelligence?
• Do you want Spiritual Intelligence?
• How can you develop Spiritual Intelligence?
• How can you use Spiritual Intelligence?

We are probably all familiar with the term Emotional Intelligence which has now made its way into the workplace, the organization and the schoolroom. The husband and wife team, Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall have introduced us to another wonderful new principle with as much power to effect practical change. They call this quality, Spiritual Intelligence.

SQ is defined as,‘a transformative intelligence that allows us to break old paradigms and to invent new ones, to reframe problems and situations, to dissolve old patterns and old ways of thinking.’ Furthermore, ‘SQ also represents our access to and need for deep meaning, fundamental values and a sense of purpose, and the extent to which these influence our decisions and actions. It has the force to address lower motivations and to shift us towards higher motivations.’ This is ‘the soul’s intelligence, it is the intelligence with which we heal ourselves and with which we make ourselves whole.’

This broad definition allows you consider whether these potentialities might serve your life?

1. How might access to an inner transformative intelligence serve you?
2. How might access to a inner problem solving intelligence serve you?
3. How might access to an inner values based intelligence serve you?
4. How might access to an inner spiritually dynamic intelligence serve you?
5. How might access to your soul’s intelligence serve you?
6. How might access to an inner healing intelligence serve you?
7. How might access to an inner holistic intelligence serve you?

You already have Spiritual Intelligence? Your life-experience is the track record of your Spritual Intelligence in action. If you review your life’s journey, you will see how you choose relate to experience. Your measure of active SQ is evident in the underlying patterns that have created your life story. The following questions indicate that Spiritual Intelligence is just a matter of mind but of a mindful attitude to life. SQ encompasses behaviour, outlook, values and core sensibilities. To explore your own capacity for Spiritual Intelligence spend time on the Self-Review. Score each question either as a high, medium or low response. Answer each question by reflecting on your life experiences.

Brain or Mind?

How do you rate:

• Your capacity to be actively flexible and spontaneously adaptive?
• Can you describe any life circumstances when you have changed direction to meet new circumstances? In what way do you see yourself as being spontaneous and adaptive?

• Your degree of self-awareness?
• Can you describe any life circumstances in which your self awareness has been an important factor?

• Your Capacity to face and use suffering?
• Can you describe any life circumstances when you have been faced by personal suffering, loss or disappointment?

• Your capacity to transcend pain?
• Can you describe any life circumstances when you have been faced pain, either physical, emotional or psychological ?

• Your  ability to be inspired by vision and values?
• Can you describe any life circumstances when you have inspired by vision ?
• Your reluctance to cause harm?
• Can you describe your attitude to harm and explain what you consider to be harmful action.

• Your tendency to see the connections between diverse things?
• Can you describe how this tendency has operated in your life?

• Your tendency to ask ‘why’ or ‘what if’ questions?
• Can you describe how this tendency has operated in your life?

• Your faculty for working against convention?
• Can you describe how this faculty has operated in your life?

Danah Marshall offer a full assessment based on twelve primary criteria that are indicators of:

• Critical Thinking
• Reflective Thinking
• Intuition
• Creativity
• Moral Sense

But even without a formal assessment a Self-Review will be insightful. At a a time of unprecedented change and global challenge, the possibility of harnessing such transformative power is essential for our personal and global futures.  Old templates cannot serve new circumstances. We need to create a new paradigm – Spiritual Intelligence is a bridge into the future.

Living with Spirit

Let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Naomi Ozaniec. I have worked as a teacher, a hypnotherapist and I am a published author.  Now I am entering the world of blogging. Publishing  has changed beyond all recoignition, the monopoly of   corporate publishingis giving way to the diversity  of empowerment of  individual publishing.  E-books, blogging and networking are the way of the future. So now I wish to align my creative energy to the unmade future and not be constrained by someone else’s agenda.

• I wish to set my own agenda
• I wish to be heard
• I have something to say

To date my life has been driven by a number of interrelated passions:

• The Incoming Age of Aquarius
• The Empowerment of the Individual
• The Application of Wisdom Teaching

These are not fanciful and esoteric distractions but practical guiding principles for the world in which we live now. You can read more about  Aquarian Principles in the blog, Thoughts on  Aquarius, extracted from  the book  Teach Yourself Meditation.

You may not be familiar with ideas about the Age of Aquarius, nor do you have to believe in them. You are already a part of the global communications revolutions and its effects; technological advance and humanitarian causes are the two characteristics of the new age. In short technology gives power to the people as John Lennon, a shining Aquarian spirit, said so many years ago.

I am interested in forging with writing through the medium of the blog not just because it is now possible, but because I see it as an unequivocal manifestation of the Aquarian template. Combining technology, new social grouping and unprecedented avenues of communication, blogging gives a voice to the individual, reduces the grip of hierarchies, corporate bodies and institutional power holders. Blogging is an agent of change and a means of creative personal liberation. Welcome to my Blog where Aquarian Principles, Ancient Wisdom and Personal Empowerment merge to offer you practical possibilities and applicable ideas for daily life in the 21^st century.

Spiritual ideas entered my life early. When I was 12 I discovered the metaphysical section at the library and I simply read every book available and I have carried on reading and reflecting since then. My life to date has been spent engaged in the process of transformation, working in groups and networks, with individuals and in endeavours aimed at the transformation of values and beliefs. It has proved to be an extraordinary and magical journey of discovery. When I was a delegate at The World Parliament of Religions in Chicago 1993,  I recognized that that the spiritual momentum for change had become a worldwide experience.

Now the ideas that so many people strived for with such determination and intent have become manifest; a new phase of consolidation and integration is coming into being. This shift is readily evidenced in many ways, the broad range of spiritual life skills now so readily accessible such as meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Chi-Gung were some thirty years ago regarded as dubious, dangerous, even diabolic, eastern and western spiritual systems are now in multifaceted dialogue, science and mysticism are now seen to share a commonality. We have a new understanding of the mind-body paradigm. Now that we no longer have to argue the case for holistic spirituality, we can instead value the opportunity to apply age old solutions to modern living.

Since I have spent all my adult life investigating the mind-body-interface through a range of traditional teachings both eastern and western, my blog is a distillation of what I have found valuable, universal and applicable.

My blog Living with Spirit,  covers the areas of life that we hold in common. Human needs seem to change very little across the ages but modern life changes at a disconcerting pace and imposes stresses which are quite unique. It is not surprising that we could all benefit from a helping hand from time to time. I speak from personal experience: I have suffered two long bouts of depression, I have had two miscarriages and suffered a still birth. I have been married twice and know the impact of suicide on a family. I have survived dark and despairing times so I know that recovery is always possible for the human spirit.  Wherever you are in life and whatever needs to be healed, may you find some support here in words chosen to help you.