Chakra #3 and me

The solar plexus chakra is the third chakra in the body. This chakra is used as a portal in Reiki, and therefore, must be opened and cleared from blockages when used in Reiki healing. The solar plexus chakra has several attributes and functions that help with the physical, mental and emotional states of the body.

The solar plexus chakra has several unique names that it may be referred to, including the navel center, liver chakra, stomach chakra, spleen chakra and manipura chakra. This chakra is located above the navel and when its energies are intact will open forward. This will create what it is referred to as a ten petal lotus. Inside of this chakra are several secondary chakras that can open to universal energies.

The main purpose of this chakra is to create a center for life. This chakra has the ability to give life as well as create and generate emotional energies. Many will state that this chakra forms the best between the ages of 15 and 21. Its purpose is to create a shaping of being. It is also known to be associated with transformation and purification. When one's solar plexus chakra is open, it will directly affect the sense of sight. It may also directly affect the pancreas or liver, as well as the liver, stomach and spleen.

The aura that is used in association with the solar plexus is a bright yellow. When the chakra is open, this aura will be apparent to a Reiki instructor. In relation to this, the solar plexus is often referred to as relating to the element of fire. When one goes through a healing with the solar plexus, they may have visions of sunlight or sunflowers in relation to this.

Reiki instructors will usually place their hands above the navel to trigger this energy center. For females, they will rotate left and with males they will rotate right. This will help in clearing the blocked energies in this area. If something emotional or traumatic has happened, this is usually where the blocked energies will be. Once this is opened, different emotions will also be able to open.

The solar plexus chakra is the last of the lower chakras and is the most complex of the three. It's relation to the body relies on the emotions that are being generated by that person. By opening up the solar plexus chakra and healing its center, one will find many differences in their health.

http://www.btinternet.com/~seamaid/sacredtruthindex.htm

So I went on a trip with a friend to a spiritualist community and had my aura read again. This time it was red, orange, yellow, white, and a tiny bit of green.

In aura terms, this meant that my third chakra was blocking energy to my 4th-7th chakras, so they put me with a woman who would do reiki for me and release this energy.

It's probably a good thing I didn't know what was going on, because it was like this:

First, they get the singing bowl to sing. It's a bowl made out of crystal and it makes this cool noise if you roll something around the rim of it, which she did. Then she told me to visualize air like a white cloud coming up through my feet and moving slowly through my body- up my legs, into my midsection and...

Hey, what was that? All of a sudden I felt like I was 10 years old and my dog had just died. I swear, I haven't felt sorrow so deeply in years. It's a real pang, a deep pang, and it actually hurts, but then it's gone and the cloud is flowing through and the bowl stops making the cool noise and it's over.

Except... except now I'm thirsty, so I get a drink while my friend goes to the bathroom. They tell me to rest for a minute so I sit on a couch and then...

The waterworks begin. First I think about my dog who died back in 1983 and then I think about times when I felt bad about myself growing up and then it fast-forwards to the present day and all the stress and feelings of hopelessness I've known.

Now everyone's noticed. The reiki lady gives me some energy somehow and talks to me. She says I need to take a salt water bath to neutralize negative thoughts.

I say to her that I've tried so hard to think positively and get out of my crap situations; suddenly I get a mental image that tells me that I've layered positive thoughts over that which had festered for who-knows-how-long, and I wish I'd known- I wish I'd had an honest dialogue with myself sooner to address these upsets and be more aware of them so that I could acknowledge them, release them and move on.

Here's more of what I found online. The bolded info is my doing.

How we feel about ourselves, whether we respect ourselves, determines the quality of our life, our capacity to succeed in business, relationships, healing and intuitive skills. Self understanding and acceptance, the bond we form with ourselves, is in many ways the most critical spiritual challenge we face. In truth, if we do not like ourselves, we will be incapable of making healthy decisions. Instead, we will direct all of our personal power for decision-making into the hands of someone else; someone whom we want to impress, or someone before whom we think we must weaken ourselves to gain physical security. People who have a low sense of self esteem attract relationships and occupational situations that reflect and reinforce this weakness. Nobody is born with healthy self esteem. We must earn this quality in the process of living as we face our challenges one at a time.

My stomach was upset all afternoon long. I found myself "releasing" stuff on a literal basis. Eeewww, I know. Eventually, we were home and I fell into bed and slept this thing off.

Well, whatever had glued that trap-door shut didn't hold that day, and I'm glad. Whatever was built up in there, that needed to go, is gone. Now it just needs to stay gone!

Strange, briefly painful, and totally mind-blowing. Yep. Just another day in the life of Janie Q.

Working in the Actual Nearby Midsize City may not fix every problem I ever had, but...

Hi guys, Jane here. It took 4 interviews plus a session of signing forms and peeing in a cup before my wild and wonderful holiday festivities (meeting the Diva at the beach and playing in the waves, flirting with a high-school crush during a night of drinking in the old hometown, spending more time on the road to see family and friends, and pondering the disappearance of The Dude I was seeing) began, but it is official: your Jane is fully employed again, starting Monday.

This time it's a real job with a raise (yes, you read that correctly) and nice people to work with. Now you're probably saying, "Shut up!" but no, it's really true, and it is truly happening.

How did this happen? you might ask. Well, let me tell you. A lot of it was through meditation and trying to capture the feeling of things going well in my life. Sure, I had to dig deep and go into the past for it, but I've been there before and I'm there again. I had to remember the good feeling and have faith in the Law of Attraction to get me there. It wasn't easy.

In order to do this, you have to truly be thankful for what you have... and sometimes that is hard. I had to figure out things that I liked about good-old-boys at work chewing on dip and talking about football this summer while the women did all the work. I had to like the situation I was in where I was working all the time, looking for a real job in my down-time and not making ends meet. I had to find the good in everything, and let me tell you, in 2008 that was really difficult. You know that song in Life of Brian when Jesus and the other 2 guys are hanging from crosses, singing "Always look on the bright side of life"? It kind of felt like that.

But that chapter is over. A new year, a blank slate, a fresh start is in the works. And I must say that it couldn't have happened to a better person!

The vibe of New Town (ANMC) is leaps and bounds in the "friendlier" direction than what I've seen/experienced in Winterville. I know this because I've been there and felt it in my gut.

New Town is a breath of fresh air to this dormant situation. It has a younger and more educated and more transient population. It is also within driving distance, so I don't have to move right away- although I may sometime, as what's keeping me here? I know that ANMC and the new job will not make my life a perfect miracle, but I have a feeling it's going to be a serious upgrade in a lot of ways.

Like they say, the rear-view mirror only shows you what's gone. But you also need to look back sometimes to see how far you've come.

Your amiga on the upswing,

Jane

I think it's the hair

Jane Phoenix started out years ago as a drawing of a superhero. My friend F was an artist and he wanted me to name his latest character, and so I did. The coolest name by far that I could think of was Jane Phoenix. He made a drawing of her that was typical of what a 20-something guy would draw- tiny waist, giant boobs, and cool hair... but the cool hair was short and straight like mine. I could have that cool hair...

Recently I copied her hair as my own: dark bob with short bangs. It seems simple enough, but apparently it drives the boys wild. And as a side benefit, they are boys near my age, not the geezers I was meeting before.

One day after getting the brunette bangs, I was left speechless by a guy working at Moe's. He laid it on so thick that I didn't know how to react. I just stood there and stammered out what I wanted on my tacos, absolutely flustered. What made me laugh, though, was that even though he wasn't my type, I was excited to see that he had to be within a few years of my age. That had never happened before in this town.

Yesterday, while buying pants and shoes at Ross, the guy who checked me out quite literally checked me out. I handed him my stuff, indicated that I'd brought my own bag (tree-hugger) and he said to me, "You are a very beautiful woman."

I mean, what the hell do you say to that? Other than, "thanks!"

So then he goes on to ask me if I have a boyfriend and I said yes I do (the details are sketchy and I barely see him, but this random dude didn't need to know that) and I said, "I'm probably too old for you anyway." To which he told me that he's 30, 5 full years older than the Dude actually, but I didn't say anything.

So the Ross Guy invited me to come back and see him any time, and I just walked out flustered.

I don't know what's going on, but I think it's the hair.

I'm glad the Dude saw my potential and asked me out before I had the hair. That shows real depth.

Happy new year, everyone!

Thanks for tuning in!

Jane

On Expectations

The Buddha teaches us that Expectations lead to Disappointment (Suffering).

After much meditation, I have come to the conclusion that I will be OK regardless of what goes on with my work life because I have acquired wisdom from my previous jobs to know where I will belong as far as what type of work and in what type of environment. The key is to look around with eyes wide open and see things for what they are. After that, there are no big surprises.

I had expectations with the Iceberg. Sure, they were based on things he said and plans he wanted to make with me, but I don't think I really listened to what he was really saying. And my ego got in the way too. Here I'd told everyone that we were in love and he was the guy for me, and we were happy, and then he goes and acts like an ass. How humiliating, on an ego level. What? I wondered to myself. Now I have to go back and tell everyone that all that good stuff didn't happen? Or if it did, it's evaporated now so forget about it ever being that way?

Now I'm sorry, that's embarrassing. I can only imagine what it's like for people who've been married and had kids together to have to announce to their loved ones that they've been abandoned. Ugh. It makes my stuff look like a walk in the park.

Diva and I met a bus driver in Ireland named Maurice. He told us, "Expect nothing and you won't be disappointed." I always loved that quote. So Buddhist, from such a catholic country.

With the Dude, I am holding down expectations on every front. Some friends go wild when you tell them you're dating and assume all kinds of crazy things- start planning wedding stuff and knitting baby booties, that sort of thing. So I say stuff like, "It's not the romance of the century," because it isn't and "I don't see him that often," which is true, I haven't seen him since last Sunday I think. He works a lot.

With family, Big Brother asked me if Dude was coming to Thanksgiving dinner. I said no, he's going to be with his best friend and his friend's family. (I'd offered, but he already had plans). Still, the prospect of bringing a man around to the family has been a BIG Deal in their eyes. So holding down expectations is probably most important in that realm.

But it's my expectations that are the most important in this scenario. At first I wondered why didn't he call every day and do that stuff that I'd been conditioned to expect. I had to wait and see what happened. He did eventually call, and we do like each other, and things are going very slowly but you know what? It's the best course of action for him and me. We're both transplants, unsure of our futures, living in strange places 1 hour from each other, figuring out our lives and neither of us have really "dated" anyone else since early last year... so it's the pace that we've set. Every so often one of us will text the other, I'll write him a note to say call me when you have some free time, the phone will ring and if I'm available we hang out, if I'm not we're not. And whatever we do, it's always fun.

It's not the romance of the century, but it is pretty damn cool. And the less I think about it as far as the future and its potential and what will this person or that person think of him, the better it is for me.

Astral projection v. just a dream?

Whoa!!!

This is what I heard from a psychic when I described my dream from April 23 about Hot Mike and how I jumped off the cliff and then flew to the ground with my pink wings.

Whoa!!!!

I don't know much about it, but it seems to me more that it's the subconscious making things conscious through an experience that someone has in an altered state rather than consciousness actually leaving the body and going to another place. The term "out of body experience" doesn't make sense to me because my body was part of my experience. It felt emotions, felt like it was flying, moved, talked, thought. I couldn't have had that dream without my body (if that makes sense).

I needed to hear the message, "Just find somewhere soft to land" so much that it took an experience like that to make it stick.

Hmmmm...

Also I went to a handwriting analyst, who told me that as Jane, I like to tell stories, am bold and colorful and love attention. My Jane signature is really cool compared to my regular one. It makes sense.

I mean, this was supposed to be a secret blog, but Jane told all kinds of people about it. Why? Because Jane writes about such cool adventures and wants everyone to know about them!

Maybe I need to mosey back into writing creatively, but this time do it as Jane. For whatever reason, the writing I do when I identify with Jane, who is after all a woman who wears go-go boots, has awesome shiny hair, is a bit sassier than any other writing I could do.

It's something to think about...

I'm adding this second part because I met a guy who does dream interpretations. Here's what he said:

In your dream, as you overlook this cliff, you are looking at the possibility of a significant fall in your emotions. Your destiny looks good far off, but the way to get there is almost impossible, even to fathom.

Your spirit guide, as you describe him, then shows up. This is a good description, because in a true way, he does represent your male side of power and strength. It is your choice whether to listen. He wants you to take the plunge, which is not going to be easy. There will be much difficulty along the way.

You agree to go ahead with this drop, but you need him to go with you. In other words, you are willing to take chances in your life, but want that sense of power to accompany you on your way. So off you go!!! You are willing to take the chance of your life with help.

Once you take your chance in life (after it is done), you now begin to look at all of the possible outcomes of your actions - all the 'what-if's'. You need to know now that you have taken the most dangerous chance of your life. But it might be worth it.

You finally find yourself without someone to guide you any longer, but there is good news ahead for you. After taking the chance of your life, you have sprouted pink wings. This means that within your spirit, in that place of love in your heart chakra (pink), you have found the true answer to life's questions of you. If you love, no dilemma can keep you down or away from your truth. Love will be your true answer in your life. And in the end you will land safely in the beauty of all of nature and the universe. For with love, you no longer even need a spirit guide.

You will find happiness, joy and beauty inside your heart and in the love of others...you only have to let go of any fear...

What a great dream...

Ladies and Germs, my idol Mae West

I think it's good to have a personal hero, and nobody ever took on the role of the independent woman quite like Mae West. Here are some quotes that we can all use as words to live by.

It's better to be looked over than overlooked.

A hard man is good to find.

Men are my life, diamonds are my career!

When women go wrong, men go right after them!

When caught between two evils I generally pick the one I've never tried before.

When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better.

Marriage is a great institution. I'm not ready for an institution.

It's not the man in your life that counts. It's the life in your man.

Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

I believe in censorship. After all, I made a fortune out of it.

I only like two kinds of men: domestic and foreign.

Too much of a good thing is wonderful.

I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.

Don't marry a man to reform him. That's what reform schools are for.

It's hard to be funny when you have to be clean.

I wrote the story myself. It's all about a girl who lost her reputation but never missed it.

It ain't sin if you crack a few laws now and then, just so long as you don't break any.

Personality is the glitter that sends your little gleam across the footlights and the orchestra pit into that big black space where the audience is.

Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere else.

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.

Ten men waiting for me at the door? Send one of them home, I'm tired.

Sex is an emotion in motion.

I do all my writing in bed; everybody knows I do my best work there.

To err is human, but it feels divine.

Few men know how to kiss well. Fortunately, I've always had time to teach them.

I always save one boyfriend for a rainy day . . . and another in case it doesn't rain.

Why don't you come sometime and see me? I'm home every evening . . . Come up, and I'll tell your fortune.

I freely chose the kind of life I led because I was convinced that a woman has as much right as a man to live the way she does if she does no actual harm to society.

The man I don't like doesn't exist.

I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.

It isn't what I do, but how I do it. It isn't what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it.

I'm not good and tired, just tired.

Men are easy to get but hard to keep.

Want to laugh?

Diva starts off many conversations with that one phrase. It is an excellent phrase, to be sure, and who doesn't want to laugh? But I digress.

Want to laugh? Yesterday I had the honor of being asked to be a guest columnist for an advice column. The subject: How do I spot an insincere player? How did I let this smooth-talking man impress me, only to find out that he has a wife?

Aw geez, do I ever have the luck attracting just that type- so who better to post the warning signs? I mean, really.

To sum up, my warning signs are:
a) too much confidence. Confidence is attractive, yes, but he has more confidence than you'd expect- because he's already got (at least) one woman in his orbit already.
b) he seems too good to be true. That means- he probably is. He's had lots of practice paying attention to women and lavishing attention on them. What are the chances he'll stop with you?

I'll let you know if it's published, and if so where. I'm using this name (Jane) for the first time ever in print! Now I really feel like I have an alter ego...