December

December is the month of Rumi for me.  The great Sufi master Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi passed away on December 17^th, 1273 in the city of Konya in Turkey.  He is known as a poet, a theologian, a sufi mystic.  He is the best selling poet in the US.   He is even better known abroad and I believe that his energy, his soul belongs to the highest truth and therefore is valuable to people of very different beliefs and traditions. 

December 17^th is celebrated in remembrance of his reunion with his Creator. 

And every December I like connecting with his writings a little more, in order to connect with his wisdom.  Kabbalistic teachings say that we are able to connect with the energy, the soul, the wisdom of a person on the yearly anniversary of their death.  Kabbalist say that to increase our awareness, we can connect to the energy of a Tzadik on their death anniversary, which in the Jewish tradition means a righteous person or spiritual master.   I would like to write more on Kabbalistic traditions in the future articles.

In the Turkish Islamic tradition it is also customary to pray for loved ones who have passed away on the anniversary of their passing.  It is considered important to make sure that we pray for them, for their soul on those dates.

I believe that it is possible to connect with those who have passed away.  That it is possible to communicate. The important thing is, why do you want to connect?  If there is a need, a real need, it is possible, it will happen.  It can happen anytime, anywhere. However, I have also seen that it is possible to connect with some souls on their death anniversary, and/or near their graves.  Sometimes it is easier and more possible to connect with hem in places that they like or find important, or used to find peaceful and serene. 

And sometimes out of nowhere, we will feel their presence.  We will hear their voice or just know that they have given us an answer or a message. 

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One of the personal development tools that I love is the Transformation Game of Joy Drake and Kathy Tyler.   This spiritual game is an amazing tool that helps us to connect with our inner wisdom as well as what we might call Universal Wisdom. 

The creators of the Transformation Game sent me an e-mail at the beginning of this December, they do at the beginning of every month, inviting me to connect with the Angel of Wisdom this December.  Wisdom really seemed like the perfect angel to connect to this month.  In the Transformation Game, concepts like Wisdom are defined as angels, or rather that some concepts are also strong energy frequencies that we might invite and experience and communicate with, that we might also call Angels.

As always, intention is the key.

The Universe provides us with information, with power to know, with strength, with power to heal ourselves and others. However, the ability to use or have any of these depends on our intentions.  Are we respectful to free will?  Are we respectful of others’ choices even if we do not agree with them?  Of course, we have the full right to protect ourselves if others violate our rights.  You know what I mean,  are we manipulating others to make our wishes, our ideas to come true, or are we working to allow what is meant to happen to come alive? The information is always there. The power is always there.  Whether we will be able to see it or use it depends on choices and intentions.

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And RUMI has said most of it so well so long before…

Two Kinds of Intelligence

There are two kinds of intelligence: One acquired,
as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts
from books and from what the teacher says,
collecting information from the traditional sciences
as well as from the new sciences.

With such intelligence you rise in the world.
You get ranked ahead or behind others
in regard to your competence in retaining
information. You stroll with this intelligence
in and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more
marks on your preserving tablets.

There is another kind of tablet, one
already completed and preserved inside you.
A spring overflowing its springbox. A freshness
in the center of the chest. This other intelligence
does not turn yellow or stagnate. It’s fluid,
and it doesn’t move from outside to inside
through the conduits of plumbing-learning.

This second knowing is a fountainhead
from within you, moving out.

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With best wishes,

Zeynep

Insights

I had been learning English since I was thirteen.  The times that I am abroad or in English speaking trainings or groups, my English improves fast and I feel very connected to the language. And then come times when I feel like I just did not learn enough.

Among all of the words that I have learned, ‘insight’ was a word I used or was even aware of until I read “The Celestine Prophecy” by James Redfield over ten years ago.  Since I was a kid, I had had experiences of synchronicity, feelings of déjà vu and amazement for the strange coincidences that show up in my life at unexpected times.  Then after reading James Redfield,  few years later, the word ‘insight’ would this time appear in game developed at the Findhorn Eco village in Scotland.  As a part of the amazing “The Transformation Game”.  In time ‘Insight’ became for me a word that meant a world of personal discoveries.

As I look back, I cannot pin point exactly when I started to be more aware of the surprising coincidences in my life.  That there is something to them, about them that needs to be discovered. It probably was after I went to the US for college.

Then books started to show up in my life.  The first book that I can definitely say was an eye-opener for me was “The Road Less Travelled” by M. Scott Peck.  That book stayed touched something in me and made me look for more. I went to Boston for my first Thanksgiving to visit the sister of one of my best friends.  And in Boston Renin gave me this book. “The Road Less Travelled” touched something in me and made me look for more.

Then Erich Fromm and Rollo May started to interest me.  For the first time I was reading about psychology.  In junior high and high school, I had read only novels.  At least one per week.  I loved reading. I loved fiction. In that fall of 1988 in Boston, something started to change.  My focus of attention was starting to change suddenly in my first few months in the US.  I had come to New York to study engineer.  I always thought I loved math and numbers were my calling. And now I was discovering that my real interests seemed to be very different from what I had chosen to learn for my future.  Away from home and in new territories of all kinds, I guess I was terrified to even consider that I was not on the right track.  And I ignored the signs, until I could not.

From that autumn in 1988 in Boston to 2013 naturally a lot has happened.  Looking back, my life seems to follow a path like what James Redfield is writing about in his books “The Celestine Prophecy”, “The Tenth Insight” and his other books. Following and discovering the insights he wrote about.

There are many signs in our lives.  Call them whatever you like corner stones, lighthouses, wake-up calls, warnings, dilemmas, coincidences, synchronicities or insight.  There are signs in our lives that seem to try to lead us to events, people or situations that will makes us happier, healthier and more satisfied.  Listening to them, seeing them, choosing to see them and accept them makes a difference.

And may be the coincidences in our lives are the answers to our prayers.

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Some questions from James Redfield to leave you with for the next few weeks:

1-      Were there any particular coincidences or signs connected with getting your current living space (significant house numbers, encounters with neighbours, delays in negotiations, mixed-up phone calls, special street names, or any other odd detail)?

2-      How did you get your past or present job? Think back to how you found out about it, to whom you talked and what messages you might have received?

3-      Describe how you met your most important relationship. What led up to your being in that place at that time?

4-      Do you see a pattern in how things come to you? What was the similarity, if any, between meeting your significant relationship and getting a job or a place to live in?

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Wishing you many delightful coincidences and sought after insights.

With love,

Zeynep