Thought For Today

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Zombies, Vampires, Mummies, Ghosts, Skeletons and Spirit; with a hint of chocolate

 

This is the season of monsters and scary things, scary thoughts, and  things that go bump in the night… a season of fun and a season of fears. So I titled this: Zombies, Vampires, Mummies, Ghosts, Skeletons and Spirit; with a hint of chocolate (after all, it is October, and we all know what that means?  – the national holiday of Halloween!)

So with Love and Light and in the “spirit of October” let’s start on our little “Haunted Journey” by making our own haunted film:    (lights down please)

As we take our first step into our haunted thoughts... deep into the darkness of our fears… What horror film is complete without the “Living Dead” … the Zombie or ghoul! So I knew who to cast for this role, I looked up Wiki-pedia and they describe a ZOMBIE as: A term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means.  Hmmm that seems to fit our need for the season…. It also goes on and says the term is often figuratively applied to describe hypnotized people lacking consciousness and self awareness; yet they ambulate and are able to respond to surrounding stimuli.

 Wow, take away the scary music from the movie and the fake decaying make up; and,... well… this definition takes on a whole new meaning.  How many of you know someone that fits this description?  Or how often do we ourselves fit this description?

Walking around at work empty, with out emotion, just ambulating going thought the motions.  Blindly doing… without true thought… putting one foot in front of the other…. Maybe we do this at home, in school, shopping, relationships, work? …. We respond to surrounding stimuli without self awareness or consciousness; we are the “living dead”.  We all find ourselves here; at various levels; at some point in our lives… the “why bother”, “just another day of the same old, same old..”. We go through the motions of walking, eating and talking yet inside we are not alive, we are empty. We exist but life has no meaning… Thoughts of the lovable, yet in another light, kind of “scary”, Winnie the Pooh’s Eore. With his “Why bother”, or “oh bother” fit this Zombie as well because of his loss of self worth, self esteem… the Zombie has forgotten who they are and why they are here. They just move for the sake of movement, their emotion and consciousness are gone…or are simply not responding.

A good October horror film wouldn’t be worthy of nail biting unless it was filled with a little suspense, so I’ll leave you with the Zombie just as we found it… (haunted sounds here)



The night air is silent and still… the darkness surrounds us…not a sight can be seen….and the only sound is the beat of your own heart…(sounds of the wind and owl hoots).. Suddenly a chilling breeze crosses your face….and the darkness comes alive…. the Vampire has arrived…. : a mythological or folklore being who subsists by feeding on the Life Essence of Living Creatures!

In John Polidorei’s 1819 novella “the Vampire”; he established the vampire as a charismatic and sophisticated being!

            Hmm… how many of us have had Vampire infestations or situations? What are they you might ask? Well… haven’t we all experienced the High energy and Fun filled room that suddenly stops when someone enters …  you can literally feel the “Life force” being sucked out of the room…. The whole room changes; the energy lessens, and the mood is more subdued.



            In some cases we may even be the vampire… feeling down or low, we may seek out someone with higher more vibrant energy to give us a “boost”.

            In these cases of vampire-ism, the person is just in need of energy and really has no clue they are draining it from another. They get this rejuvenated feeling and figure the other person is getting the same effect. These Vampires are “Clueless” you might say as to how they “drain others”.  They are not necessarily bad, just unaware of how they affect others with their negativity.

            BUT BEWARE..(dramatic and scary music here)....There are other Vampires that are extremely dangerous because they know exactly what they are doing.  They go into a room or situation with the intent of sabotaging others and purposefully drain their life essence from them…. They do this with such charisma and charm that people even invite them to parties and situations that allow even greater drainage of energy from even more people. These Vampires are filled with Ego; they need power and sub-servants to feed the never ending void they have inside…. You see, if they make themselves appear powerful by draining others energies… their ego grows as does their perceived power and they don’t have to look at their own emptiness, loneliness, fears, etc….  As a matter of fact, due to their charm and sophistication their victims put them on a pedestal and worse yet, even in a place of power over others…which perpetuates the problem…  (a major example would be the once charismatic leader Hitler. His original charm and manipulation of people made him a dangerous vampire... until people became awakened to who he really was and he got his just reward. Sadly, not before destroying a lot of good people and places in the world... his damage is still felt today) But, these beings are shallow and hollow and can only survive by using others. These Vampires may temporarily build a seemingly Grand “House of Cards” (if you will) by feeding their ego with others energies to gain power.  BUT…when the winds of Spirit/God come blowing in…. this house tumbles and the Truth is exposed.



            (flicker lights and more scary music here, creaking door, groaning,  etc..) Beware… as more MONSTERS still Lurk in the Dark!!!



            Another such monster is “The Body of a human being embalmed as in preparation for burial: THE MUMMY!!!  For our film here today, I want you to picture the kind of mummy that is wrapped up, or bound if you will…  

            For the sake of mixing a message with our horror film… I ask you: How do we wrap ourselves for burial? ...Do we hang on to arguments? Do we hang onto worries? How about those fears,  hurts, resentments and anger? What about those “Could-a, would-a, should-as”? ..The "I can’t"... "I am not worthy"... "Not good enough"... What do you wrap yourself in? What binds do you place on yourself that wraps you up or buries you? What do you allow others; or rather give others permission, to wrap you in? ‘You’ll never amount to anything!”; "You're not smart enough, pretty enough, strong enough!", "You can’t and you know it!"  "You’re not _______ enough!", etc...

            How are we allowing ourselves; and ultimately our potential; to be wrapped? And how can we break those binds?... tune in next time… (only kidding, we’ll get there soon)



            Now we got-a have some GHOSTS!! For our purposes; ghosts are apparitions, translucent or wispy shapes and visions. A Ghost is an animated principal of the mind; a transparent or misty representation of a soul.  Instead of going with the traditional version of a ghost, For this movie we are making, I am going with one of: a faint or misty appearance of a true soul being. (start the ghosts sounds please)

            Don’t we all see missed potential in others?  in ourselves?  People who are “ghosts” of who they truly are either by fear, lack of self worth, or self confidence… basically we don’t realize or acknowledge who we really are… children of the ONE Divine God, Creator of Love and Light, etc... … We choose not to own this, or not solidifying it to our fullest potential; either through fear, lack of knowledge or self worth. Sometimes it’s simply a “Not Knowing Yet”… We therefore, are ghosts of our fullest potentials, our fullest self.



            (start the bones rattling and doors creaking and shaking) And what scary film would be complete without a Skeleton or 2! SKELETONS: Those creaky old bones that shake, quake and make lots of racket… They once seemingly supported something but now they just hide in our closets making so much noise.. they sound bigger than what they are.



            We all have skeletons that make so much noise they scare us; and we try to keep them hidden in the dark so we and no one else can see them. But... skeletons… being skeletons… those old dried up bones make so much noise they sound bigger than life itself!!  (start loud rattling bones and foot step sounds)

            What are some of these skeletons we try to keep hidden… well… it may be childhood fears… fear of the dark… of abandonment… of loneliness. It could be the fear of heights, dogs, spiders, or maybe it's old resentments, old hurts both physical, emotional and maybe even spiritual. These deep dark secrets are things that we have hidden negatively affect ourselves in the present and potentially in the future… All of these skeletons are kept alive in the dark corners of our minds… we put them away in boxes or hide them where they won’t bother us… we try to forget about them…. And, well,  it works for a while… until something awakens them and they start to shake and rattle around… making so much noise in the dark, they are huge and scary and have become bigger than life itself; and bigger than we can handle alone.



            (stop all music... silence) Wow…. what Monsters we’ve found and created and carry around with us on our Haunted Journey….   How truly scary this film is if we leave the story to end here…  (start slowly bringing up the lights with each monster revisited)



            These Monsters are familiar to us, and at times, they almost seem to belong with us… It may be easier to hang on to something familiar even if it no longer serves us, because oddly it feels comfortable because it is known to us …. And as humans, we usually want the easiest way out, with the least amount of work… So we try to survive with these monsters rather than get rid of them.



            (start triumphant, empowering music here; softly, and  increasing slightly with each re-visited monster) With the help of the ONE Source, Great Spirit, God, Divine, Creator, Teacher, Healer…. I challenge each of you to take on these Monsters.... Yep take them on and give your movie, your journey a happy ending.  We are united in the fact that we are all part of the ONE…We are all part of this circle of Life, this circle of ONE.  Therefore,  when we face our monsters, we are not facing them alone, rather we are armed with the Truth that In, With and Through  the ONE: together,  we can face any foe… real or imagined. Our Power through the ONE is infinite and eternal.

            So now that we are "armed" with the power of ONE, let's go in reverse and fight these Monsters one by one…

            Skeletons in the dark seem to have a size much bigger than they do in the Light…. So go an open the door and Shine God’s Light and Love into the deepest darkest corners of your skeletons hiding place and see them for who and what they really are… events, things, places, people, of the past… they are like the skeletons…. old memories and hurts that rattle around making noise. If you need someone with you to help guide you  to face your fears; go with a friend, counselor, life coach, pastor or  clergy, shaman, healer, etc.... But GO! Yes, go and face your fears armed and protected with the True Love and Light of God/ Creator/ ONE and look at what is really there rattling around. Look with new and Loving  eyes... and I know you will see those skeletons  in a new Light…. The past can not hurt you if you shine God’s Light of Love into the deepest corners… Love is always the answer… It sounds simple, but deep down you know it is true, for all of our experiences make us who we are today... and all are part of our circle of Life, our circle of ONE.... Learning to live with all that is in our circle, in ourselves, without judgment, or emotion, but allow all, the good and bad, the yin and yang, to be...Find that balance through  The Love and Light of the ONE. Skeletons only have importance, if we choose to place importance on them... If we just allow them to be... by shining Light on them we take away their "greatness: dispelling their fear, their control over us.... by shedding the Light of Truth onto them...they no longer have power over us... unless we choose to allow them to. Once they are exposed for what they are, it is up to us to keep them, or let them go.

            Once we have shed Light on our skeletons... and found that balance to our circle of Life, circle of ONE, We now can tackle the Ghosts… the "not living up to our fullest potential"… Getting rid of, or facing, our skeletons puts us on the path of balance, the path to self worth and accepting ourselves as children of the ONE Great Spirit, God, Love, Light, Divine…. Once we own our Truth, our Heritage, we find that balance and we are whole and ONE with the all.  We can no longer live as ghosts if we are filled with the substance of Light and Love.



            When we have substance and self worth, we are worthy of being who we are…. No excuses, no fears…. We can tear through all that binds us… for we allowed ourselves to be fooled into thinking we were bound by outside forces when it was all an inside job… we did it to ourselves by accepting the negatives that we  allowed to bind us….The "mummies binds" are broken as  We are now free through the Love and Light of God.



            Once we free ourselves from our binds we can see more clearly… we accept what is ours and don’t take on what is not… We can shine our Light through Love... We can shine our light and share it with others who, will take what they need and use it for the highest and best…. How can you not be a victim to the sly and sophisticated vampire? How can you protect yourself when you might not even know someone is draining you? ... well a wonderful teacher, once told me… that we all need to protect ourselves from negative people and situations… not take it into ourselves or into our heart, that which is harmful or hurtful, draining or negative…. Instead, place a shield of God’s Light over your heart… only allowing in what is for your highest and best…. And that shield will reflect back the negative that is being cast your way… But, only after first changing it and healing it, and then reflecting it back to the sender so they may start their healing process… For when you have a heart of Love and are infused with God’s Light, you can not be harmed.

            Now this is not to say we all don’t have hard lessons to learn… but as Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Jesus, Buda,  and all the beloved children of God  that have taught and lived Love… These people's lives were not without difficulty…in fact rather the opposite, the lives they lead were very hard and filled with many challenges, trials and tribulations... It was how the difficulty was handled, how they responded and learned the lessons from all aspects of their lives, and then continued living and  teaching the lessons of Love and Gods Light ever present throughout All.



 Well  we have made it though almost all the Monsters now… and  we are back to where we started… Hopefully, by battling all the other monsters,  you can see how you are learning to fill your journey with the purpose of living... Loving the life you are given... and through all your life's experiences,  each lesson you go through you come out stronger through the Love and Light of the ONE... You then are on your way to living your fullest potential! Your heart and soul have a conscious and compassionate reason to LIVE and be ALIVE!….For YOU ARE a Child of the ONE Great Spirit... One Light, One Love... You are part of the great circle of ONE.

You still might ask, "what if the Zombie is someone else?"… well, we all know the power of healing thoughts and prayers… we all know that by shining our Light and Love to all… we may just illuminate the spark they have inside of themselves…. That Light, that commonality of being; ONE in the Light; ONE with the Spirit and ONE through Love, One part of the circle of ONE; they may just begin to feel alive as well.... we can only lead by example and education, prayer and positive intentions... the rest is up to them... All is for a reason... and their "awakening" will come when it is their time, and ours will come when it is our time.

So we give a happy ending to our film... our Haunted Journey... we acknowledge our Heritage as being part of the great circle of ONE, children of God,  the  ONE true Great Spirit, Teacher, Healer, …. And because it’s October…. this  Spirit ends here with a hint of chocolate… for we all know... a little chocolate will sooth even the savage beasts.



May each of you find your Happy ending for your life's journey; In, With and Through God’s Love and Light. 

May you be part of the circle of ONE, and may you always remember, that Together, we are ONE... Blessings to you and yours always.

Love and Light,

Nina Pauline Ploetz