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Serving a community of private individuals and professionals
who have the desire to cultivate a life of clarity, compassion,
and creativity. We warmly welcome our new subscribers. Thanks
for joining! Your feedback is encouraged. Please feel free to contact us.
1. Simple Story
I have had a dream for a number of years that only recently
achieved some resolution. In my dream I have a big dark secret
that I want to hide from everyone.
In my dream, determined to hide my secret, I wrap it up amongst
some crumpled newspapers which I place in the trash. The garbage
men come and take my offering and I am relieved when they run
all the garbage through the compactor on the back of the truck.
I have a warm cozy feeling knowing my life is going to be a
lot happier from now on out!
Ready to get on with my life, I change jobs, buy some new clothes,
get a new hairstyle, and about three months later the post man
rings my bell and hands me a special delivery package. I don't
remember having ordered anything, so I figure that a friend
or family member must have sent me an early birthday gift.
I tear open the box, only to find that my big dark secret had
been returned to me, albeit a little bit squashed from its trip
through the compactor.
Getting rid of my secret is essential, because otherwise I
feel that I will never be able to relax and be myself. If my
secret continues to lurk in my past, I fear I will have to spend
the rest of my life worrying that someone will eventually find
me out.
Having failed the first time, I come up with a new and better
strategy, and I do a good deal more preparation this time around.
On the internet it is quite easy to create a new identity, and
it only cost $295. Passport, driver's license, credit cards,
I buy the works!
With my new self in hand, this time I place my secret in a
neatly wrapped box showing a return address of a trendy brand
name store. I send my package via sea mail, to a fictitious
address in a far away country in Africa. With any luck I figure
it will get stolen before it even gets there!
The moment after I turn the package over to the postal clerk,
I head for a new life in L.A. I figure anyone can blend in there!
This time my bliss lasts for six months before a Fed Ex delivery
person shows up with a package addressed to ME, care of my new
pseudo identity. I must admit that this time the results leave
me feeling pretty devastated. Who in the world would have the
wherewithal to track me down, and why in the world would they
do so?
Totally disheartened by my results so far, I decide to take
a different tack. Having met some up and coming movie moguls
in L.A. I decide to make my sad story into an award winning
drama. A friend tells me that if I hope to sell my script I
need to create a story that is inspiring. I start out my drama
showing how my attempts at deception lead to depression and
loneliness. I decide to finally come clean and tell everyone
who I really am, and free myself from my great embarrassment
regardless of the consequences. In one of the final scenes,
with my story finally out in the open, my friends and colleagues
tell me they are not at all put off by what I have done. Indeed
they say that the true story helps them to better appreciate
and love me. It feels so wonderful to finally come out with
a happy ending! Check your movie listings at the end of the
year. The rumor is that George Clooney will be playing the lead
role!
2. Further Thoughts
Do you have secrets that you withhold from others?
What I am asking is if you keep secrets from others because
you feel ashamed or guilty - of yourself or something you have
done; of a member of your group or family; or perhaps you feel
that if you tell others more about who you "really"
are, they might not like you as much.
Shame, guilt, and deep dark secrets, are frequent topics that
my clients bring to their sessions. Many people spend a tremendous
amount of their total life energy keeping people at a distance,
not wanting them to know "the truth." Many (but of
course not all) of the secrets we keep from others, take away
from the overall quality of our lives, and the lives of those
that we actively engage with.
I remember the first time a client said, "My wife loves
me very much, and I feel so sad that she doesn't know who I
really am." Wow, what an incredible statement to make!
If someone loves "you" but you hide from them who
"you" really are, then I can't help but think that
indeed the other person is not loving "you" but rather
they are loving the "you" you are pretending to be.
How really tragic to feel that you can't be loved being who
you are. Sort of like one of those spy movies where a young
eastern European woman working in a government office falls
in love with the handsome CIA agent that is pretending to be
a college professor. Early on in the movie you wind up wondering
if he will kill the girl if she finds out who he really is.
One of the things I have consistently found to be true over
the years is that in many instances, the guilt and shame one
feels about certain circumstances, is based on a point of view
or understanding, that is not shared by others. Often, people
feel ashamed about what happened TO them, when if the circumstances
were known, they would wind up being supported by their community
of friends, family members, co-workers, counselors. A woman
who has been raped feels ashamed of what happened and thus she
does not tell her new boyfriend, who would feel tremendously
relieved and supportive finally understanding why she seems
so distant at times. A child is severely criticized by his first
grade teacher for making a simple mistake, and made to stand
in the corner. He asks to be able to go to the toilet but his
pleas are denied. He wets his pants, and soon after he starts
wetting his bed. His parents and the doctors have no idea what
is "wrong" with him. Another child is ashamed to tell
the school counselor that her alcoholic father beats her, and
instead she plays hooky from school on the days that her bruises
look the worst. Eventually she gets kicked out of school.
If you have access to supportive caring people, I suggest that
you can find great personal freedom and renewed joy for life,
if you would share your secrets with others. The truth will
set you free! There is no need to punish yourself any longer.
3. Practice
"Old Memories, New Learnings"
This is the third time this Seishindo Practice has shown up
in our newsletter, and this time it has been newly remodeled.
It is an important Practice because it gives you the opportunity
to change the meaning that past events have for you. In Seishindo
we believe that we often face continuing difficulties not because
of what has taken place in our lives, but because of what we
believe to be true based on what has taken place. We incorrectly
judge ourselves as being wrong. This Practice gives you the
chance to change your perception of yourself, and your perceived
shortcomings. Give this Practice a try and let us know what
changes for you.
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Private Sessions
If you would like to become better able to work wisely
with core issues such as your identity, deteriorating
health, a general sense of well-being, destructive habit
patterns, strained personal relationships, and various
professional concerns, please consider engaging in an
in-person private session with me.
My private sessions in San Diego, CA, will be on July
14th and 15th, 2004. My private sessions in Washington
DC will be on July 27th and 28th, 2004.
Read
more about how you can benefit
from a Seishindo private session.
Read
what other people say about Seishindo sessions.
If you think you might be interested in a private session,
please contact Charlie directly at charlie@seishindo.org.
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4. Links
Association for Transpersonal Psychology
- http://www.atpweb.org
The site provides a forum for scholars and practitioners investigating
spiritual development, ecological awareness, and sustainable
commerce in order to promote eco-spiritual transformation through
transpersonal inquiry and action.
5. Suggested Books by Cindy Franklin
"Getting our Bodies Back"
by Christine Caldwell
Christine Caldwell founded the Somatic Psychology
Department at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. In
this book, she explores the relationship between (mild or
severe) trauma, (mild or severe) addiction and the body.
She particularly focuses on the role unconscious repetitive
movement patterns play in dissociation. She points out that,
under the right conditions, these same movements can be
explored with awareness to help us discover a point of entry
onto a healing journey of spiritual, emotional and physical
awakening. This lucid, profound and practical book has great
relevance for those interested in Seishindo.
6. Suggested Music
CD: Steve Roach "The Magnificent
Void"
The reviewer James Rotondi says it much better
than I can, "Void is an astral-gothic collage of fear,
transcendence, and weightlessness; a high-water mark of space
music; and one of Roach's finest hours."
7. Milestones
We use this space to acknowledge and honor all members of
the Seishindo community. Graduations, marriages, births, passings,
accomplishments of all kinds. If you have information that
you feel is appropriate please send it to us here.
* * *
Happy birthday to Charlie!
I was 56 year old on May 10th. I am healthy and doing fine,
and I want to thank everyone for their support over this last
year in particular.
Happy birthday to Marleen Adriaensen!
Marleen is a long time friend, and my head sponsor in Europe.
She had her birthday on May 9th. One day ahead of me in the
yearly calendar, but many years younger than me in age!
Happy birthday to Sandy Morris!
Sandy is on my sponsors in Washington DC and a dear friend.
All the best to you Sandy!
We have two fantastic opera talents that are part of the
Seishindo community - Lori Ernest
and Val Bernhardt. I want
to thank the both of them for once again sponsoring one of
my Performance workshops in NYC. Several people who attended
told me what a fine experience they had, and successful workshops
always require dedicated sponsors. Thanks so much ladies!
And Lori, congratulations to you on your latest singing contract.
Let me know when I need to rent my tux. Or perhaps, if you
are going to have more and more leading roles, I should just
go ahead and buy one!?
8. Our subscribers recommend
Lorrie Kazan writes:
http://www.wattsgardenclub.org
is an inspiring site, so please have a look. I send out a prosperity
meditation on Mondays. These meditations are free and anyone
can sign up on my website at http://www.lorriekazan.com.
If I haven't done so already, I know I will be sending out meditations
with quotes from your newsletter. Blessings,
Lorrie Kazan
Psychic/Intuitive
lorrie@lorriekazan.com
The Seishindo team thanks Lorrie heartily
for her recommendation and appreciating our newsletter.
* * *
If you have a business, hobby, group, or organization that
you would like other members of the Seishindo community to know
about, then please send us a short write-up here.
You don't have a website? Then let us know how other members
might contact you by phone, fax, in person, or in writing.
* * *
We invite you to send in
A) Questions and comments relating
to what you read here.
B) Experiences that relate to
the "Practices" presented.
C) The names of books/music/services/products,
etc. you feel might be of interest to the Seishindo community.
Please include a short write-up about your selections and send
all input here.
9. Copyright
Unless otherwise attributed, all material for the newsletter
"Pure Heart, Simple Mind"(tm) is written and edited by Charlie
Badenhop ©. All rights reserved.
You may reprint, copy, or distribute "Pure Heart, Simple
Mind” (tm) provided you: a. Receive our written permission
(which is likely). b. Attach the above copyright notice
to our material. c. Do not sell our material to others.
d. Keep the content of our material intact without any editing
whatsoever.
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