Monday 22 December 2014

Great Love Held Dear


December.

The last month, of another year.

The year of the bolting horse, is at it's rear.

The schools have finished, cleared and cleaned.

Our homes are ready for Christmas cheer.

Another annual calendar, 2014, is ready to recede.

Endings. And beginnings. Learnings, livings, misgivings. Now shelved and cleared. 2015 is near.

And counting the blessings, refurbishings, and necessary introspectives. All held dear.

Watching the world spinning. And participating. Where personal meaning intervenes. Visible and invisible acts of kindness, spreading, their purpose, clear.

Riding the waves of essential life practices. And important indulgences. Keeping the fires burning, with choices turning.

Focussing on families, and friendships, and new people to greet. A clearer sense of self and the chemistry of others. A truer meet.

And balancing the balls of daily chores, pleasures, and passions. Personally fulfilling. A life force fully living.

What a year it has been!

Necessary Indulgences that 2014 did bring.

And as you stand solid, grounded, expanding. Notice how well you have done this year. And the peaceful stillness that brings within. And may that be the foundation from which to bring the new year in.

Great Love Held Dear.

SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com



Friday 12 December 2014

Christ Consciousness Connection

The Christ mass is upon us at this pivotal time of year. I love this time of injection, more deliberately, and memorably, in Christ Consciousness Connection.

It encourages and challenges us to stay focussed on what the birth and life of Jesus The Christ meant, and means, to all of us. What this great teacher and master demonstrated and strengthened in the psyche of man and woman. To find and complete our individuated wholeness, and create a new human race, of grace.

And in that reflection I opened again a present I received last year, relevant to the flavour of this anniversary, and the rituals surrounding the birth of this human, mystical, holy, divine, being and doing, Christ saint.

The present was a book, about a series of interviews with Carl Jung. Miguel Serrano's C.G. Jung and Hermann Hesse, A Record of Two Friendships. Amongst many topics it offers a lovely extrapolation and explorative perspective of Eastern and Western Traditions. In one particular extract, Serrano's first interview with Carl Jung in February 1959, Jung describes Christ, as the archetype, for the Western world.

'The Self,' said Jung, 'is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.' Dr. Jung spoke that sentence in Latin. 'And do you know what the Self is for Western man? It is Christ, for Christ is the archetype of the hero, representing man's highest aspiration. All this is very mysterious and at times frightening.' Jung fell silent for a moment.

And indeed it is. For Christ taught about, and acted from, the Sacred Heart.

And to live and speak from your heart takes courage. To stay in your truth takes strength. To stay in your I Am'ness when all around seems senseless, that is the path to wholeness.

And sometimes that can feel treacherous. Yet that is a part of the journey of the hero and heroine. Which we all are. It is essentially the transfiguration of the human species, led by the heartmind, into an era of greater humanity and grace. No small feat. It's that big. And every step is relevant.

As you are facing the final days, leading into the season of Christmas festivities, where views can be differing, tensions may be heightening, where compassion seems emptying, and where soulful presence seems mystifying, breathe in, and take smaller steps, in each present moment. A gentler, simpler pace, for the highest good, is where the blessing and transformation is.

Select what your wholly holy Self needs best, in amongst the activity, for you and humanity. So you can make it a more meaningful and relevant event. And that is time well spent, in Christ Consciousness. That is the Present.

And should you wish to read a previous blog I wrote called 'Your Unique Self', with an extract by Hermann Hesse, you can find it here http://www.lovingpsyche.com/Blog/index.php?id=5915043626871369058

Much love for a Happy Graceful Greatful Christmas Self Present.

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com


Photo Illustration: Holy Heart, Central Art by SaraSwati Shakti © 2015 from her Heart Art collection. Heart Art is a registered therapeutic service trademark of SaraSwati Shakti.



Wednesday 26 November 2014

Blessed Contentedness

This week I sketched a picture of two representational mandalas, one called Family and the other called Home. Together they combined as Family Home.

It presented for someone who requested a mandala of her own. And with graceful intervention I let go of artistic flow to see what would evolve for her to know.

She received the two mandalas as a reflection. Representing the place of her heart, of her attention and intention. An understanding of where her primary fires burn. She, and her family home. One representing her and her family members, individually and enJoyning in their pleasures. And the other of her InJoying blossoming, of herself, as her home.

Her home, her heart centre, and the collection of passion amongst all the members, including her own, that together are one whole.

And I mingled with other families, at end of year gatherings leading up to Christmas. Noticing the passions of each person, contributing to the entire mix, of purposing their pleasures and treasures individually and together. Processes of blending, mending, communicating, and treading beautifully, and appreciatively around the important, connective, things.

And I realised oneness more definitely, more completely intrinsically, in maintaining the rhythm of the members of the family and what goes on in it. Gently, acceptingly, and experimentally, learning about each other and understanding their passions and needs, gracefully, and carefully. Listening, and developing.

We often think of the term Oneness as something quite amorphous and enormous, as something global, and unattainable. And while it has a large universality, it also occurs finitely, and starts in families. In the ones of origin, as well as others we create intentionally, and blissfully, with harmony, and loving beauty.

Understanding group dynamics, for everybody.

When things go less smoothly, adjusting.

When things go right, celebrating.

The experience of individuals impacting the whole. Being conscious of the dynamics.

Creating space for individuality, to hold grace, for each person, and what they each need, as well as everyone collectively, for well-being. Prioritising, balancing, and ridding things unnecessary. That's the creative rhythm of a family.

Creativity in how we live our lives. Opening up to solutions, options, flowing essence as the heart opens to greater importance of the value of a happy, fulfilling essence for each, and all combined. A blessedness of contentedness.

As we lead up to Christmas and other events we naturally think of family and what it means, as part of the rituals we involve ourselves in.

Perhaps an openness to the uniqueness, and preferences of each member, and the blending of the quirkiness, in and amongst all the rest, can enhance a harmonic oneness and lovingness for everyone for a Christmas blessed.

May you create and find the blessedness of family home at Christmas, in whatever way that happens to be for your contentedness.

SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

 
 
Photo: Family and Home mandala's coupled as 'Family Home' by SaraSwati Shakti, 2014.
 

Saturday 22 November 2014

A Reassuring Poem for a Child at bedtime

If truth be known
I can bestow
A blessing on your brow
To shield you well
From harmful spell
And peacefulness bestow

In loving space
You have a place
To feel safe from harm
To know with cert
Your heartful strain
Will soon come to calm

Be reassured
And be spared
From worry and distress
You're home again
Come to rest
Relax in loving balm

Your mum is near
And all is clear
Your shine will soon return
Just breathe muck out
And clean the guff
Flush all the murky goo

And soon you'll find
That glowing spark
Will be all fresh and new
With spring in step
Regained with help
Your soul will be renewed

A gentle caress
Will cleanse the mess
And serenity return
To give you all
So you recall
The pleasantness in your chest

A calm mind and happy heart
A peaceful bod and soul
All at rest, and at its best
Soft, gentle is the goal
It is achieved, as you recede
in slumber, back to whole

And in the morn
No more forlorn
The yuckiness is gone
You will return
Fresh and cured
of energetic scorn

So rest my love
Let all recede
And heal over night
With dreams of bliss
And one more kiss
Upon your resting brow

Your Angels and your Spirit guides
Are always ever near
To guide you well
And calmly tell
You what you need to hear
Be still, and listen, dear.

One final thing
While breathing deep
In sleeping solitude
You're deeply loved
Just as you are
And so loving too.

No need for pretence
or stoic tense
Just let it all hang out
Your authentic self
is welcome here
It's nice to have you back.

Good night my love
Sleep tight my love
Good Night
Good Night
Good Night


SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Wednesday 19 November 2014

InJoy and EnJoyning

Several years ago a positive psychology professor asked me a question. How do I reconcile the combination of positive psychology and Jungian depth psychology as part of the preferences of modalities I enjoy using.

The question implied to me that you can only exist in one camp, or another.

But to me, that is denying the full spectrum of life.

To me they are part of a continuum on which life oscillates. And part of a range of tools to get us through challenges in the greatest and gentlest way possible.

Life, by it's true nature, includes endings, death, deeper yearnings, as well as births, soarings, high points, and fun things. And that is what makes it whole, and complete. Understanding, accepting and  working through the spectrum of what is happening, when it presents, in the moment. Embracing it entirely, is what makes it relevant and aids self-awareness and decision-making.

And life is an evolving and involving journey. What is needed may shift and change depending on our development and the events we may be experiencing.

Ever since I can remember I have understood the marriage between life and grief. That joy and pain co-exist. That hope and dread are real. That there is light. And that there is shadow. Knowing that when we are born, we are also going to die. And consequently how valuable life really is.

Finding joy through positivity when we need it, and creating it as a setpoint, is one aspect. Finding compassion and deeper understanding when joy is hard to see with a more troubling element is another option.

And that clarifies and unifies the use of different modalities as part of a toolbox. It's a topic I wrote about in a previous blog http://www.lovingpsyche.com/Blog/index.php?id=6970434297096124292

Positives are great. Staying focussed on positives helps us to appreciate our lives. And there is so much to appreciate. Yet when it is inauthentic it can deny stirrings that are unpleasant, and that need to be noticed. And while it may help to stay positive to transcend what may be too difficult to deal with for a time, at some point these stirrings may need to be addressed. That's when the depth is the beauty. Finding what is hidden. And realising an InJoy for a truer self, and the value it brings.

Likewise staying in the depths can drown us. Keep us away from a wider perspective of broadening, giving, receiving, and applying the learnings into a richer, fuller, life connection. Offering the learnings and knowledge as gifts of maturing. Embedding the understandings and wisdoms that we can pass on as being our authentic selves with others. That creates the EnJoyning as a real positive for a richer, more robust society.

And while that somewhat oversimplifies things, working this way allows for a broader developmental approach. Using mindfulness, and heartfulness to connect to options for finding InJoy. And EnJoyning that is relevant.

This is the case for both individuals and organisations. Scanning for what are positive, and the hidden elements, for both the individual and the collective. Using relevant tools and modalities for EnJoyning InJoy.

Our individual and collective soul signatures are here on a mission. To live life fully. To compel us to embrace the endings and birthings, joys and discomforts, and to remind us of our humanity. To tune in authentically, to ourselves, each other, and to choose to create greater, more fulfilling, joyful and purposeful living.

May our best, most rewarding, and fulfilling, InJoy and EnJoyning lives persist beautifully, compassionately, and creatively, positively and deeply, for a better humanity.

SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com










Sunday 9 November 2014

Drawing for Humanity

Drawing is ancient. What has been presented on paper, parchment, rocks and stones over centuries, has educated humanity.

Like writing, it demonstrates cognition of an idea. And stores information, throughout civilisation, in a picture. It offers images that stir from sleeping dreams, mythological, ritualistic, and symbolic meaning. As well as a range of pictorial archetypes, for seeing, feeling, and connecting to the inner holy being.

And as life moves, evolves, and changes, drawings generate reflectively. So that creation perpetuates. And the images that resonate, deeply, and humanly, repeat. Maintaining and encouraging a life force of something higher, deeper, and more meaningful. Updated, and relevant, reinforcing messages, for humanity's evolving benefit.

When the eyes and an art piece really meet, something interior has been touched, and reached. Visibly and invisibly.

And that can be a peak experience, aha moment, and an amazing event. As well as an ordinary, daily, lovely, simple, thing.

Yet the value of the simple and ordinary can often be overlooked, as un-extraordinary.

I have worked with many people. Helping them to tap into and understand their inner landscapes. And the biggest thing I have learned is that so many feel an innate unworthiness, an un-extraordinariness, and a dissatisfaction. At a loss to find their innate loveliness, and innocence. They puff up with layers of achievements, competitions, justifications and unnecessary busyness. And while the big things are most definitely worth celebrating, they occur intermittently.

It reminded me of an anonymous quote I read recently. Anyone loves a rose, but it takes a lot to love a leaf. It's ordinary, but it's beautiful to love the ordinary. 

The human heart knows that. It does not judge. It connects. To what is uniquely important to the person whose body it is in. No matter how seemingly ordinary. The intrinsic, significant, things. And, in listening to it, it allows you to find discernment and clarity. To what is really important, in every moment. To life, and deeper values. Enacting and practising, wholeness. And discovering, intrinsically, and symbolically, that the leaves are also roses.

I invite you to tap into the language of your heart through the art in Heart Art mandala'verse, now available in a book depository for humanity.

The book is being used to educate others to find and connect to their heart's discernment, meditatively and sacredly. 

Sample poetry describing the drawings from Heart Art mandala'verse, can be seen in the latest edition of Spirituality and Health magazine http://spiritualityhealth.com/articles/heart-art-mandalaverse-original-art-and-poetry.

Heart Art mandala'verse is available from major on-line booksellers. And you can order it at your local bookseller. Softcopy ISBN 978-1-4525-9478-1.

May it connect you to your extraordinary ordinary heart based personal, and universal, experience.

SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com



Wednesday 29 October 2014

Coherence Appearance

Tomorrow I have a meeting with a group of wellness providers that I am leading. And we are concentrating on the theme of LinkedIn as part of connecting to our audience, who needs our services, and the technicalities of attracting, communicating, and reaching them.

And the word coherence came up for me. Suggesting the importance of aligning with everything, coherently. With the values we hold dearly. Selecting that which illuminates and resonates with our paths, and the paths of significant others like our families, our clients, our communities, moving brilliantly. Adding flowingly to how the world can be continually evolving lovingly. And peacefully.

And I drew it in a mandala. What coherence looks like in a picture. Visually. People holding hands, moving, forward. From left to right. Across a path united. Rising, and dipping or resting, for decision-making when need be. Intersecting and connecting with the flowing beauty of an energetically seamless heartbeat, along a bright horizon.

 
 
Perhaps you can connect to the picture. In your own individual way. What it may mean to you. And meditate with it. That is what I will be doing with the group tomorrow morning when we begin. Linking together some themes of our group cohesively as we move on with our individual and collective illuminated journeys. Refining, fortifying, and deepening, our co-creative relating.
 
And in your inquiry, with the meditative mandala in heartmind, you may also like to consider:
 
1. Who are your coherence friends, families, colleagues, customers and communities?
2. How do you energetically and purposefully connect mindfully, heartfully, and taskfully?
3. Where do you flow rhythmically, and how do you intersect abundantly, so that opportunities for co-creation present seamlessly.
4. What are the benefits each person is bringing to the transactions and interactions that are supporting a jointly fulfilling higher purpose into being.
 
Such a lovely inquiry to be undertaking as you move into the last parts of the year. 
 
Much love on your coherent connecting.
 
SaraSwati Shakti

© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com.


 
 
 



Thursday 23 October 2014

Isn't it funny...


I came across a quote today from the legacy of C.S. Lewis. And it said...

Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different.

And it was funny, to come across that quote today, because I had just finished writing a list of all the things I have achieved this year. And the list is longer than I had thought. And more meaningful than I have given my life credit for. Energetically, relationally, and tangibly.

But in every day, it seemed not much was happening, not much was changing.

In the big scheme of things, much has shifted. I feel different. Because daily, mindfully, I was making choices that were right for my life, my values, and my purpose. And from that place, more of what I love has surfaced. And more energy and space is available to give to those around me that I love.

My love list might not be valuable to anyone else. It is personal to me, and very precious. It entails the foundations I am building on for my next steps.

And your life, to you, is precious too. It is truly valuable. And what you do now is foundational to your next steps, and the contributions that you continue to make.

So, with the partial Solar eclipse on our doorstep as a motivation, perhaps it is opportune for you to do an 'Isn't it funny' list to see just how much has been achieved, in your precious life.

1. Write down your achievements and the things that have been working in your life. This makes it real, and encourages more to appear.

2. Acknowledge the foundations that you have built that you know are solid and sound. The things you have focussed on this year. And look at it with gratitude for You and what you do.

3. Define what you now want to build on those foundations, personally and professionally, and what you wish to next see happening.

And may you continue to witness your unfolding as precious and divine, and keep building a brighter new life.

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti


© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Confident Competence Steps

The last two weeks has encompassed learning. People letting go of what is known to embark on newer growth. Overcoming uncertainties. Taking the next brave steps on which they are embarking.

Feeling vulnerabilities. Unearthing underlying fears that need clearing.

'I was on a clear path. It was easy. And now it feels clumsy? What do I do? Where can I start?'

Normal inquiries. For each and every mind. When finding itself on a new less certain path. Wanting to fix things quickly, while on a learning path.

And in that state of uncomfortable unknowing, if you feel a time of perceived standstill, and the big 'where next' step keeps pulling, feeling urgent, and pressured, and stressful, then slow down...

1. Keep your heart to task acknowledging the small steps you are building. And processing internally. Developing confidence and competence in and for the next new stage. And looking at the priorities that each day and moment entails.

2. Keep an eye on the big picture you desire, and let it show itself and sort itself out one heart full day at a time. From the simple, to the grand. Treading, body and mind, into braver new land. Asking for reliable guidance wherever you can.

3. Surrendering and learning, one step at a time. Meeting with people, where inspired solutions abound. Paths through confusion, and asking questions, will offer optional movement. Holding the big picture, and the goals solid. And adjusting the plans as you move forward.

4. Choosing what's possible, and realistic, within the values and resources you hold. Adjusting and resting, when necessary. And allowing Divine right timing to enter the mould.

5. One day at a time.

The linear mind struggles with such sureness of sense. Following the heart path with pure intent. Taking account of human frailty, and using acceptance and gentleness around vulnerability. Loving yourself as you create, sure footedness, in a new landscape.

Our world is changing, rapidly, certainly. 

And while busyness may make sense. Perhaps its time to slow down the adrenal tense.

Take it easy on yourself. Build competence, confidence, and presence, in every step.

Much love in a growing heart learning sense.

SaraSwati Shakti


© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com






Monday 13 October 2014

This One Precious Life


How Precious This Life

This One Life

This One Precious life

Your Life

My Life

Our Life

One Life

Life

How Precious!

This One Precious Life

May we Appreciate, Participate, Love, And Venerate

This One Precious Life

May we create Holy Happiness, Blissfulness, Delightfulness, and Heartfulness

In this One Precious Life

This Truly Precious Life.


© SaraSwati Shakti, 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com





Monday 6 October 2014

To Live a Life of Love

The time has come
To refine
What it means
To Live
A Life
Of Love

To Live a Life of Love

Place the words in your heart
And
Ask your mind
To listen
There

Bow
Your Head to Your Heart
Listen
There

To Live a Life of Love

Leave the words there
As you move through your day

To Live a Life of Love

Hear it
Feel it
Heed it
There

To Live a Life of Love

Inquire

And see what happens
As you take care of business
And you go about your day

To Live a Life of Love

Motivated by those words
In your heart
Connected
To your mind

To Live a Life of Love

For You and Your World

What it feels like
What it brings up

To Live a Life of Love

What it tastes like
What it wakes up

To Live a Life of Love

What it looks like
What it shakes up

To Live a Life of Love

To Live a Life of Love


© SaraSwati Shakti
www.lovingpsyche.com
All rights reserved.


Monday 22 September 2014

A mandala art story

I have been having opportunities to speak about my book of mandalas and poems that I recently published. And the telling of the stories of the mandalas has been fascinating. It seems people are interested in the backstories of some of the images, and the poetry.

Many of the mandalas do indeed have a story. Rich in symbolism and meaning. That is why mandalas are so beautiful and powerful to me. They are like a photograph, or a snapshot, that I have drawn, of something important. A message, or a scene. Their own revealing poetry. And though they are relevant broadly, they have a personal perspective, to the person creating it. Which is what I find so interesting.

And while my intention was that it lead the readers on their own journeys and perspectives personally without my own interpretive, it occurred to me that perhaps you might like to know some of the stories, occasionally, of the mandala drawings, and what they mean to me. So here, in short form, is one such story. Of how one of my mandala's found itself evolving after an event one evening...

In a tall corporate office building. I was busy handling client meetings.

On this one particular day I had a window. In my schedule. One I specifically put there. Because it was going to be monumental.

A foyer of that city super-scraper had a television. Running news all day.

On this one particular day I chose to view it. Standing. In front of the large screen. Watching. An amazing scene.

The Prime Minister of Australia had something important to say. And so did Parliament, on this one particular day.

One word.

One very important word.

Sorry.

History in the making.

Something extraordinary.

And I watched it.

With no-one beside me.

In that super busy office building.

Tears in my eyes. At what I was witnessing. My heart opening. With gratitude. For this restorative act and attitude.

That evening it emerged in a mandala scene. My inner plane, showing me, that event, and what it meant to me, meaningfully.

In that structured office building, with barely another person noticing, this amazing happening.

I, in my window, alone, heart beaming, loudly.



The mandala is now called Clearly Heart. And it has it's own poem that emerged separately later.

Both can be seen in my book Heart Art mandala'verse, now available in Australia. You can order it at your retailer or find more details here http://lovingpsyche.com/Products/Books/mandala-verse.html

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti

 
Copyright © 2014. All right reserved.
 









Monday 15 September 2014

Soulful Art

I attended the Hay House Author's Workshop in Sydney at the weekend. An exciting, energetic, and grounding event, of what it takes to be a writer and an author. Part of the formula they suggested is to be an avid reader. And to have a story to share that can be relevant to others. I listened to the shared stories of the life-changing books that are available, and the influence it is having on the lives of others. Their soul lights shining. A lovely selection and inspiring collection.

And I thought about my own reading life. And how I have selectively chosen books relevant to my own transition. And how we all move and change and work through each new reading and life phase.

Yesterday, I came across one of them. A book I once owned. M. Scott Peck's People of the Lie. I lent it to someone many years ago. It never came back. Long lost. Yet, at times, I yearned to have it. To revisit it. To read it and absorb it's message again. Curious about what peaked my interest in it.

And, of course, at the right time, a copy surfaced again. I had a look at it. Dipped into it. Found a passage or two that spoke to me in it. Closed it. And put it in a pile to give back away again.

That book. That moment when it was relevant. The life I led way back when. Has passed. No longer relevant. Just a curiosity of what I have been missing. Now gone. Irrelevant. Old element. Cleared away.

And I could completely let it go. With the exception of one important component...the statement

'God creates each soul differently, so that when all the mud is finally cleared away, His light will shine through it in a beautiful, colourful, totally new pattern. Keats described this world as 'the vale of soul-making'.'

It just so happens, that on that give away pile, is M. Scott Peck's first book, The Road Less Travelled, that I also removed from my shelf at the weekend. A pivotal book in the turning of my life, which led me into psychotherapy training. A book, for me, life changing. Leading me on a deeper spiritual path. Clearing the muddy puddles of my life.

The two books are back together again. Ready to move out.

And what has moved in? A pile of my own books. Somewhat different to the word depth books in which I was immersing myself. Featuring art and poetry. A simpler, deep, meaning. Colourful. New. Original. Heart Art.

New butterfly colours emerging. On a new road travelling. A new pattern revealing. On the true heart path.

May our soul patterns keep emerging like butterfly wings in the Sun as we each shine our divine true heart path life.

Details of my book now launching in Australia can be found at http://lovingpsyche.com/Products/Books/mandala-verse.html

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti


© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com


Sunday 7 September 2014

Peaceful Sacred State

International Peace Day is coming up in September. Enormous planning is in the making for celebrating this most important date. It made me contemplate the lead up for each of us in creating a peaceful state.

And some valuable offerings have been available to prepare people for this event.

For the last two months I have participated in three sets of free on-line meditations. Deepak and Oprah completed the run, after a series with Osho, and Deva Premal and Miten prior to that. Three lots of 21 days. Each offering their own meditation practices, using mantra, teaching transmission, and reflective journaling options, on their mission, of enhancing the lives of many across the globe. Kind and generous offerings for exponentially lifting the collective vibration, and peacefulness, of humanity.

As a seasoned, and regular meditator, I appreciated the variety they offered.

My more formal meditation training began with the Buddhist tradition. And, since then, in wanting to deepen the philosophies and benefits, I have practiced many methods. Determining what works best for me at each chapter of my meditative maturing, and what fits into my life. Among the many options: receptive, guided, command based, mindfulness, body awareness, relaxation and energetic transference.

And silence.

The sweetest silence.

It is this silence, when entered, that has been the deepest, richest, and most sacred, treasure.

Walking through the door. Into the silence. And feeling the heart. And meeting the soul. And realising, that it's enormous. It is vastness. It is limitless. It's life completeness, and light essence. And nothing else is needed. It is really truly home.

And wanting to stay there.

Because it is so indescribably expansively peacefully blissfully ecstatically grand.

For those of you who have experienced it, it is seductively brilliant. Floating beyond all the cares and worries of the world.

Yet the soul has a role in trust, to be on sacred earth ground, enacting a purpose found, that brought it to earth. To be in the beautiful body and to do the work it came here for.

So you return. Because you know that you have found the door. And can visit anytime. And because you have a job to do in the practical world. Better for it, and creating it more regularly and readily for yourself and those you love, here on earth.

May we each find, and create, our meditative peaceful soulful state, embody it, bring it back to earth, and spread it all around.

And may International Peace Day be the grandest, deepest, richest yet, for spreading our most sacred state.

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti


© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com



Monday 25 August 2014

All Walks of Life

On a walk along the river by my home yesterday, it was quiet. And teeming with life. All walks of life.

A dog barking vigorously and delightedly on a hill so that he could hear his echo before he took a dip for his daily thrill. A man with a New York cap sitting and clapping in a gentle Tai Chi reverie. Walkers, chatting, simply and animatedly, about many private things. A man singing to Allah, his voice travelling beautifully along the river. We nodded knowingly as we passed each other. A pelican, 5 cockatoos, and 4 seagulls passing a ferry travelling with numerous passengers on deck and inside. Three bicycle riders going somewhere and nowhere at the same time. A lonely broken tricycle discarded, with the memory of a child riding it. And ten branches of golden yellow wattle blossoms on some wet grass beside me, a gift from some cockatoos intent on nibbling. I collected the wattle, now placed in a vase across from my keyboard. A gift of nature on my hour with myself, and with many walks of life.

The Golden Wattle now next to The Red Book.

The Red Book. Carl Jung's seminal art and soul work.

And I recalled what I know about the inscription above the door of Jung's home, and on his tombstone, in Latin. It reads Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit. And it means, Bidden, or unbidden, God is present.

Knowing, in heart and soul, that a greater force is always present, that we can connect to in our own essence. Within, between, ourselves and with others. A heartmindsoul connection that is unsurpassed.

The source, from the heart. Simple, and hard, at the same time. In the battleground between heart and mind, soul and ego, and the confrontation with the unconscious as Carl Jung put it, and surrendering control to our higher Soul wisdom. In the here and now.

I revisited an extract from Jung's book about his own inquiry of his Soul in his quieter self moments. He asked how to attain the knowledge of the heart. And the reply...

You can attain this knowledge only by living your life to the full. You live your life fully if you also live what you have never yet lived.

He articulated it further. The life that I could still live...and the thoughts that I could still think.

Living what remains uniquely unlived. The courage and fulfilment that it brings. As well-being. For each of us, on our walks of life, facing and embracing progressively our real selves, making decisions, and consequently creating well-being, for me, and you, and humanity.

Much love on our individual collective walks of well-being life.

SaraSwati Shakti


© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com




Thursday 14 August 2014

A Vision

For the past few weeks I have had the great pleasure and privilege of participating in an intensive, with Andrew Harvey, the spiritual scholar and mystic. My interest in his perspectives were peaked when he was last in Sydney, on a Son of Man, Kabir & Rumi, weekend. And later, on a greater Sacred Marriage, retreat. I have now joined the Shift Network to participate with his latest offerings.

His topic this week was on The Vision of Mary. He spoke a most beautiful soliloquy of the journey of Mary, as a woman, and her passion and beauty, and how she was written into Christian tradition.

After spending a number of years on other traditions, I am returning to study more deeply my own Christian origins. Not that it ever left me. Jesus, and his mission, was always cool to me. And I have an intense love for his message, transfiguration, and teachings.

What I appreciate about this course is the depth of study that I am gaining into the Gospel of Thomas, and the mystical aspects, of Christianity. Jesus, the Marys, and all the historical contraries, around their lives, and other perspectives.

Most illuminating has been the experiences that other participants have also shared about their own converging, and blossoming, connection, to all things spiritual and Christian, on the Christ path mission.

Soon after the session, I had an urge to draw The Vision of Mary, as it was presenting in my mind's eye. And for me to share it more widely.

Having started some rudimentary experimenting with stained glass mandala designing, this seems to fit that theme. It compliments a desire I have for spreading the feminine more widely into our perspectives, around us. The Earth, and Woman, in our consciousness. Complimentary, and side by side, with Man, and the built environment.

And here is my mandala Vision of Mary. That came tapping into my scheme of things. Rudimentary, but fully vital. It is so much nicer in real life. But I trust you get the drift. With my basic photographic effort.

She is Awesome.



Her beautiful Feminine. Rising again. Her power, taking us out of our winter, of discontent. Into a new consciousness. With a Passionate Compassion, as Andrew Harvey puts it. Shining the Light widely, blessing, blaze trailing, even more brilliantly, again.

Much Love

SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com





Monday 4 August 2014

Intuitive Listening

Yesterday brought me face to face with mindfulness.

I had the privilege of meeting up with a colleague who embodies it. And teaches it through equine assisted therapies and leadership.

We shared a great discussion about our interest in heart based therapies, about our corporate coaching, and had a beautiful nourishing meal in the sunshine on the horse property on which she now lives. Rabbits, and birds, chiming in, and interrupting, regularly. What bliss.

And we pondered the transformation of our own lives toward greater authenticity, and how we now assist others to tap into their authentic selves, using various methods involving heartfelt therapies.

Yet the equine process was new to me. It is named professionally as Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy and Learning. EFPL, for short. And it involves working in relationship with a horse. The silent language of connection. Offering a powerful capacity to dissolve all distractions, and be completely in the moment.

Where it appealed to me was the capacity it offers of working with the beauty of horses in connecting to the wisdom of the heart body. Really listening.

Many people struggle to connect to their heart and body wisdom. A skill that is so important for emotional intelligence. Yet we seek it. Because the soul and evolution depends on it. A more heartfelt, and love-filled life of existence. One of greater Spirit. And an intent to really live it.

If you are seeking the heart more intently, and more purposefully, so that your life or workplace becomes more lovingly authentic, this modality offers a place to consider. An offering with a beautiful, relational, reflective animal.

And working relationally with the heart can be extraordinary. Leigh Shambo, in her book, The Listening Heart, acknowledges that the process involves vulnerability. And that living in authentic, dynamic discourse with our own feelings will change us. And it does. It is courageous. It is adventurous. To make the necessary changes, towards the truer self.

If you are curious about this in the moment, gentle, guided and reflective process, you can get further information about mindfulness using equine assisted development, at https://www.facebook.com/MindfulHorseMindfulLeader

May you continue to explore your heartfelt dynamic self. And may we all do it with gentleness, mindfulness, in a way that inspires us.

In Love

SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. 
www.lovingpsyche.com

Sunday 27 July 2014

Love is my business

What we feel deeply leads us to the lost kingdom of the imagination. That is where we will find the genius of love, the stirred heart, the spark of joy, the flare of the charged imagination, the incandescence of the creative life, the heat from the soul aflame.

These words written by Phil Cousineau, in his Introduction to his book, The Soul Aflame, a treasure on my bookshelf, are the words that resonate when I think of what I do.

Love, pure and simple, is my business. I love what I do. And I love that I feel. An empathy for the human condition. And a desire to lift the human spirit.

My professional label and qualification is psychotherapist. Taken literally it means Soul Healer. And while I have had several professional incarnations they all have one thing in common - to bridge, to change, to improve, and then to move on. Like an artist creating a work of art, and leaving an energetic imprint, that transforms and creates a spark that continues after my leaving.

As a psychotherapist I am person centred. I have the privileged position of being with people at their most vulnerable, at their deepest essence, at their secret sensitive place, and hold the space so when their hearts break, their souls can transcend and create, in bodily action, so their life has new meaning and passion.

I do not limit my toolbox. Some of my clients have needed just to talk, some have needed activity, and always, they have a humanity that needs connecting. And a desire to learn to trust their own wisdom and spiritual essence, to make decisions, to lift out of the mire, and rely on their pathfire. To find what they love, manage, and follow their bliss, in whatever way they can blend it into their lives.

In doing so, and because we all have many preferences, I have a multimodality approach for my clients. And offer a range of methods, and refer them to options, when I work with them.

And I practice that same intention. To keep my soul aflame and in passion. And my spirit lifted. It's the best way for me to stay connected. To the beauty of humanity.

That is why I love arts, and nature, poetry, music, and the feminine, and so many, many inspirational things. They bring me to life. Stop me from burnout. They reflect what I love. And keep me in Spirit.

And it is why I hope to expand my business to spread the inspirations from my own art more widely. As a writer, a poet, and an artist, intrinsically, and publicly in the making. I have many creative ideas that I now hope to manifest in my wisdom years.

You are welcome to follow my journey, and my own artistic expressions, born from my deeper soulful experiences, my healing experiments, and my expanding joyful expressions. A personal labour of love.

You can see more about me professionally at http://lovingpsyche.com

May we each love the core of our personal and collective business. And may it inspire our bliss.

SaraSwati Shakti.


© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com






Wednesday 23 July 2014

The Love we have

This week, in my schedule with my publicists, I had listed a topic for my readers about how I focus my business as a psychotherapist.

But right here, right now, that feels limiting to me. Right here, right now, I am struggling to stay upbeat, about what contribution I can meet, by focussing on that topic. As the state of the world keeps gnawing.

And while so many of my personal dreams are manifesting, my responsibility to maintain my focus on the bigger calling, keeps beckoning. To focus my words more therapeutically, and beneficially, for those affected by grief, sadness, and unease.

And my message today is that of maintaining a loving psyche. A call to duty for all loving communities. To stand lovingly firm, and strong, and in unity, as the world spins in difficulties.

The great grieving among many people affected by world calamities.

And as words carry such power, I cannot bypass the words of Anthony Maslin and Marite Norris who lost their beautiful family in the MH17 disaster.

No hate in the world is as strong as the love we have for each other.

Their public statement has asked us to remember this. And I honour their wishes, by repeating it.

No hate in the world is as strong as the love we have for each other.

With love

SaraSwati Shakti.


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com


Monday 14 July 2014

Heartfelt Bonding

When my son was little, I created, and narrated, stories for him. At sleep time. The lights out, we would go on an imaginative adventure together. Side by side. I'd make up the words as I'd go, with him as the hero, and he would have a chance to steer the process. Adjust the story, ask questions, and make observations, about how it was unfolding. Sometimes funny, sometimes bold. And always a precious time for the two of us to bond.

Real one-on-one bonding time between parents and children is always precious. Neither of you will ever forget it. How it felt and what it reflected. When you are together in the creative life process.

The child and the adult, indulging in the innocence, and the brilliance, of the wonderland of existence. A marvellous gentleness and expressiveness.

Those moments of connectedness, between individual souls. Where discussions, imaginations, questions, options, temptations, and truisms can come to the fore. Through stories, poems, pictures, and drawings.

Reading, sharing, and communicating. Reciting, creating, and looking. At pictures. For revealing who each of you are, at heart. And how you see things.

That is why Heart Art mandala'verse is so useful. You, and your child, can sit with it, look at it, and read it together. And if you are both big and brave enough, go on your own together adventure. Of then drawing your heart art universe in a picture. Each separately, and put them together. Or a combined adventure. With a chance to talk about the evolving art story, and writing the words as they are emerging. Creating your own story picture at a point in time.

What a wonderful, real, and intimate way to indulge in the moment.

Talking of dreams, and feelings, and what it's like, to flow through the creative process that is theirs, yours, and 'together ours'.

Sharing a bonding visually. And a word, a rhyme, or a picture to steer you, with a meaning,
and your evolving, solving, creative life story.

Just like Early Bird, well groomed, in Heart Art mandala'verse, the book.


I invite you to obtain a copy and share pictures and poems together. And then try your own. And see. Where it takes you. On your own artistic adventure.

Details of the book can be found here Heart Art mandala'verse

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com



Saturday 28 June 2014

In the Raw

People have asked me why I draw. And why it is hand drawn, and in the raw.

And the answer is, because it gives me authenticity. Just me, the pencil, and the evolving story, on a piece of paper. A reflection, and observation of my artistic, meditative and creative orientation. At a point in flowing time. To easily connect, with my raw emotions, inner and higher consciousness, and create space, for peaceful embrace. Of what's going on inside. And leaving the rest of the world behind. Honouring my body heart spirit and mind. In creative flow.

It is a great way to get out of my head, and into my authentic heart. Honouring my inner sacred art.

And for each of us the process and the outcome will be different. Mimicking another is not our gift. It is to find what we are developing. Within ourselves. And processing our inner landscape externally. Trusting. And being true, to what's going on for you.

So for those of you who would like to start. Creating your own unique heart art. Here are a few tips

1. Experiment with art things. Paper, pencils, and drawings. Get familiar with what feels good to you. Is easy, economical, and available, for when you're in the mood.

2. Tune into the comfort you prefer. Where and how is your body at its most relaxed. Is it better for you to sit at a desk, or do you like to stand, to flow at your best. What feels easier for your body and hand. Define and create your own creative wonderland.

3. Start somewhere. Breathe. Clear your mind. Bow your head to your heart. Put your pen on the paper. Perhaps in the centre, and then follow the flow of your hand. Let go, and see what transpires. A little like doodling, and following. And occasionally resting, and changing colours, intuitively, if you like.

4. Enjoy what is evolving. Go with the flow. See it as a treat. Don't criticise. Just embrace the space of creative grace.

5. Keep going. Even if you think you have made a mistake. You just don't know how brilliant that can make the whole creation. Move yourself beyond self critique so you can just enjoy your creative peak when it comes.

6. Tune into your body. Breathe. Enjoy. Learn what you like and where you prefer less and more. Adjust. Colour, curves, lines, or texture. Each experience, like you, will be new. And in the process you are learning and evolving the true, in the moment, you.

7. And when you feel done, and relaxed, sit back, contemplate, and celebrate what has come. A beautiful reflection of what is real for you at that time.

Enjoy your own raw, in the moment, art. And see what it tells you from your heart.

If you would like to see more, of when I first began to draw, my Heart Art in the raw, you can get my book Heart Art mandala'verse from major bookstores. http://www.lovingpsyche.com/Products/Books/mandala-verse.html


Much love

SaraSwati Shakti




Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com











Sunday 22 June 2014

Inner Beauty

Last week I drew a mandala. Of a Swan. The Swan, itself, a symbol of reflection. She reflected back to me my inner beauty. And the messages I needed to feel. And to give me confidence. That I was doing ok. On that morning. Reassured by the presence of her, and my own beauty, during a new experience for me. I was being filmed for an author video of Heart Art manadalverse, my book. Itself a collection of drawings that reflected for me my heart and poetic art yearnings.

And this Swan in the mandala I drew last week, while she was gliding gracefully, was not the traditional pure white. She is also fuschia and pink. Unique. Like me, and You. Each of us our own interpretation of beauty in whatever is evolving within.

The image of a Swan is meant to enhance the divine qualities of the higher self, and the soul, such as light, love, grace, inspiration, intuition, and self-transformation. It reflects femininity, beauty, sensitivity, and melancholy. I know, they are all parts of me. I am calling her Pleasantly Poised and Pretty. And here she is



And you can interpret it anyway you wish. Because your point of beauty reference is to you unique.

The deeper meaning for me is that the Swan is the companion of the Hindu Goddess Saraswati, my spiritual namesake. Watching over me. And Saraswati when broken up as Sara and Swa means Essence of Self. That is why I emphasise the two elements of her name. As that's what each of us is. The essence of our unique self presence. Artistically, uniquely, our own present, to the world.

Art helps us find our beauty. In whatever way we experience it. As drawing, doodling, or simply observing.

Heart Art mandala'verse is a range of my drawings from when my life was messy, and the drawings themselves were uneasy. Yet, in the messiness, and un-elegance, I still found beauty. That is the book's message. Even in the darkness, there is light. Even in the messy, there is sight. Even in the imperfect, there is beauty. Surrendering to it helps us discover our own unique 'pretty'.

Devoid of my story, the book allows the experiencer to reflect on the images, and the words in it, so they can see what the reflection is for them in it.

May you always find your unique inner expressive beauty in whatever place and space you find yourself experiencing. And may we all find our unique creativity.

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti


© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Monday 16 June 2014

Heart Art mandala'verse Inspiring You and Me

I have published a book. It is called Heart Art mandala'verse. And its essence is for my readers to connect to the language of the Heart. Using Art. And poetry. In a lovely simplicity.

Drawings and words that Inspire feeling, and connection, to our wondrous heart intelligence.

And Inspire is a beautiful word. It means to be In Spirit. Like my name Shakti.

When I was going through changes in my life that were difficult for me, I connected to my Spirit, and drew images. And poetic verses. That had meaning for me. From my journey of transition and vulnerability. Into a new way of living.

They were drawings in a circle, that represented my inner universe. Which is what mandala means. An ancient Sanskrit word for circle. The circle of my life at a point in time. And in that circle, the image of the heart, kept repeating. Reminding me. Urging me. To stay in my heart. No matter what would confront me.

The Dalai Lama once quoted a statement that said

No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the Heart

And that was my mantra, my affirmation, my poem. So much so that I had it on my professional website connecting my clients' heartminds through their changing times. As a psychotherapist, educator, and coach, it is something I assist my clients achieve when they are in vulnerability. When they are finding their lives changing.

My art and poetry served to remind me, to stay on my Spiritual path. Of the Sacred Heart.

And in doing so I found what I loved. A new dimension to my career. Using my own love of art, poetry, and drawing. In a way that can be easily seen, repeated, and reinforced. In imagery, words and energy. Of the heart. Openly and meditatively. Heart Art mandala'verse. InSpiring. You and Me.

This book shows a range of my drawings and poems in the hope that it will inspire others to connect to their own hearts and inner experience. To meditate with it. The images. And the poetic verses. And to know deeply, and truly, that the heart is the most beautiful intelligence necessary for our loving soul journey, personally, professionally, for our families, communities, world, and humanity.

The book is now available, and you can find out more about it, and me, if you scroll down on my website at http://lovingpsyche.com/Products/Books/mandala-verse.html

It comes from my heart to yours.

Sincerely, and Inspiringly.

SaraSwati Shakti.


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Thursday 12 June 2014

Full Bloom

She is out. In her full magnificence. I watched her while on my evening walk. Rising. Rising. To the fore.

I am now looking at her again. From my window. While I write. The marvellous, bulbous, curvaceous, moon. In full glowing bloom.

As I contemplate. About the last week. Of peaks. And quantum leaps.

For me, I launched my new website quickly. www.LovingPsyche.com. You are welcome to have a look see.

My book Heart Art mandala'verse became available globally. A project that has been patiently waiting to come to the fore.

I was interviewed on international radio. A first opportunity, to talk about the story of it.

I shared sacred embrace, and space, with Andrew Harvey, Sacred Activist, while he was in Sydney.

And witnessed many other synchronicities. Of being in the right time and place, wandering in wonder, connecting with one another.

Just as the moon was building to her peak. So too, down here... With the heart mind focussing. Shifting.

And now, it will be time for receding energy. And stabilizing..

To take stock. Regroup. Focus with slower simplicity.

How wise the moon to teach us this.

The perennial expansion and contraction in physics.

Peaking. And Releasing.

The universal law, of grow and slow. Openings and closings. Sliding doors.

And it is here, now, that I find, a new solid ground. An open window. And a moonlight glow. Wondering on wander steps. And feeling. Contentedness. The simple finding, of momentary blessedness, lasting.

Happy full moon peak bloom. May you too give her room. And contemplate. On what you hold blessed, while she is at her shining best.

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com


Tuesday 3 June 2014

Spirit Matters

The first time I watched the link below was when Deepak Chopra introduced it on our shores. When I attended his presentation Reinventing the Body Resurrecting the Soul some years ago.

It has come to mind again as I have been traversing and combining the worlds of spirit and structure over the last week.

Finding a formula that suits me, between structure and creativity, masculinity and femininity, in work and relationship, between having a dream and grounding it in reality. A balancing, beautiful complimentary functionality.

Working with both dimensionalities. Considering them more solidly.

It came up among the themes of a meeting last week. Topically revolved around the areas of communicating and organising, for my spiritually focussed psychotherapy business. And meditating. On the Nirvana Atma. With the Chidananda Rupa Shivoham mantra. Keeping me in the realm of higher consciousness while I work on my practice and business.

The balance between Structure and Spirit.

Left and Right brain synergy.

Heart and Mind connectivity and validity.

And problem solving, or solution finding, when presented with challenges, or opportunities, for adjustments, and new directions. Finding a way for higher consciousness creativity to meet a logical need. Combined left and right brain quality.

I hope that you will glean what you need from this fabulous link, as I have in revisiting it. About the independent and mutual benefits of each of our beautiful brain hemispheres. As Jill Bolte Taylor communicates it so wonderfully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTrJqmKoveU&sns=em


SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com











Tuesday 27 May 2014

Bringing Them to Life

Yesterday I dipped into the world of Natalie Merchant, and her stories of nursery rhymes. Of innocence, experience, adventures, and word-of-mouth traditions. Of poems, stories, and songs. Bringing them back to life, in her labour of love project, Leave Your Sleep.

What is so wonderful to me is that she linked the stories of the art and the artists so eloquently, putting the added dimension of musicality, to the beauty of the poetry.

It reminds me of the wonderful role of the arts in living, healing, and leaving a legacy, for the world. In it's infancy, growth, and eternity. And the wisdom passed through generations from numerous traditions, that teach us the core values and lessons of life's tests and virtues.

The most touching parts of her project for me was the research and descriptions of the lives of the poets. Bringing them to life. And recreating the meaning behind their artistic contributions, still relevant now and here. A universality of our human frailty, and ability to mend and transcend, through our own art and heart stories.

I have appreciated, and absorbed the beauty and revelations of so many poets, poetry, and music, that have lit up my life. Bringing me back to life, in the sometimes hum drum of existence. Throwing myself wholeheartedly and sensually into the experience, and the brilliance, that the words and communication bring. Hearing, feeling and listening. Dancing. Dipping, into favourites, and finding newness, regularly.

We can learn so much from the stories of others, and how parts of their life experience can touch our own lives as witnesses, creating a resonance and genuine compassion for the universality of living's passion.

May the purity of words and music bring you life and reverie. And what your heart, mind, and body need, as inner sacred and holy rememberings, touching you wholly, soul-ly and deeply.

SaraSwati Shakti.

And, for those wishing to dip further, one of my favourite TED recordings will add reality to this brief log description, bringing you into the experience of Natalie Merchant. It is quite long, so you may wish to get a cup of tea, and lose yourself in the experience utterly, totally, quietly, and completely. Right here http://youtu.be/vXVCf5VTHrw


© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com




Thursday 22 May 2014

Home

Yesterday I spent the day out with a friend. Walking the curves around Sydney Harbour. A lovely meditation and reflection of the combined beauty of nature and architecture. I have always had an interest in how these two elements combine, when lovingly, harmoniously refined. So easy to marvel at how it has evolved. Both planned, and organically designed.

So many artists, designers and architects have spent marvellous time and effort building and creating structures to house and enhance our hearts and minds. And it made me think, of the process, of what it is to have a home composed of the feeling that builds within structural meaning.

For me it is about the centre. Like the mandala. And how it feels, and is created and built from the central seed. And how it radiates into its surroundings, to a physical and auric periphery, of wider ground.

As with the heart. The seed from which all grows. Creating true and right from the pure start, and spreading out from the centre of what it holds, and is evolved and found.

And as it is with humanity, and nature, as it grows and radiates, in heartfelt organic stature.

Building, and rebuilding, solidly, foundationally, from deep core, central ground, and around.

The essence of design, of a world, a life, a building, a workplace, and a home. Any space, to capture and reflect, the true character and preferences, of the owner and occupant. And the meaning, and feeling, it has for them. And those they welcome.

How beautiful it is to really connect to the way a sense of being home feels. As a true reflection, of the personhood it reveals. Wherever, and whoever, that is.

Home
How sweet the sound

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. 
www.lovingpsyche.com



Thursday 15 May 2014

Healing Meaning

It is here that you will find meaning in the unexplained, and the strength that guides you to the close of another day.

These were the words that inspired me to open and read Gregg Braden's 'Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer'. It gave me an answer to what I was looking for at the time. To guide my heart and mind. And the secrets to traversing a coming apart of my life. The hidden power of beauty, blessing, wisdom and hurt. The transformations, the lessons, and the feelings they brought.

I had just completed a course of study into the stages of grief, to help my client's gain relief, through the tasks they would take, through their own heart and mind fields of change they newly needed to shape.

Then my turn came. To put those skills into my own gain, and receive the blessings that came from prayer. To get through another day.

We all must find a way to work through the grief, the endings, the closures, we may need to traverse when they arrive some days. The letting go of old so that we can walk nobly toward our next stage.

Prayer is essentially what we feel, and think, and the words we say. They have power to create or to break another precious day. Honouring the process of pain, and taking responsibility for managing the tasks that grief entails, is a noble and necessary human process when it enters the day.

Facilitating the grace that each stage takes offers an experience of great humility, and dignity, when dealing with the work of healing. The wishing. And thinking. Meditating. And grieving. Reflecting. And affirming. Of our heart's long held yearning.

And coming to a place of knowing, in hindsight, that the closures, were the answers to the prayers of our heart's longing.

The heart yearns
Purely
Exquisitely
For what it most deeply desires
The yearning itself is the prayer
The innermost truth
The passion
Clearing the mire
And fuelling the fire
Of living's desire

May your prayers exquisitely lead you to a life truly and passionately well lived and give meaning to your living healing.

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com






Tuesday 6 May 2014

Divine Mother Love

It's Mother's Day in May. A month of lovely, sunny days. The end of Autumn. Getting ready for hibernation. And Winter months. Of more togetherness. And blessedness. Inside. With mums.

It has been a week of reflecting on motherhood. And what that entails. The tensions and the benefits that it contains.

I was watching The Voice with my son last night, and could not refrain from marvelling at the story of Candice Skjonnemand, her mother, her daughter, and her son. And the support she gives, and receives, in pursuing her dreams.

Women and others who do the mothering in families must always balance attention, and quite often tension, between their needs and those of their beloved others. Putting their own and their children's needs together to be managed. And the dharma, as a mother, as a priority in the mix.

There is no denying that happy and fulfilled mothers lead happy and fulfilled families. And that motherhood entails much care and sacrifice, and responsibility for leading and developing young hearts and minds in families, no matter what that combination is.

A society that supports motherhood, and its divine honouring of the personhood, of women, wholesomely connected to their children, their sacred home, and their own dreams, in a balancing mix. Now, that's a beautiful dream, to fulfil.

May Divine Mother Love always be held sacred and blessed. And may it be suitably honoured in a way that is unique to each mother, on this special Mothers Day week.


With Love

SaraSwati Shakti

SaraSwati Shakti is a psychotherapist, coach, artist and poet. She is launching her first book Heart Art mandala'verse this year. You can follow her on www.facebook.com/LovingPsyche

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Sunday 27 April 2014

Crystal Clear

Several years ago, as I was walking through an obscure city retail way in Sydney's central business district, I came across a tiny jewellery store, now long gone. I had a gift to buy, and some browsing time, so I stopped to have a look. And a chat. With the owner. A gemmologist. Her qualifications beautifully hanging in ornate frames above the counter. We spoke of her studies and how it surprised her when she unexpectedly learned, about the natural worth, of gemstones. That her course was the most intense when they studied the energetic properties of crystals. Much richer and more complex than the physical properties. Her passion for her vocation clearly showing, in the gemstones that were around me glowing.

It reminded me why it is lovely to adorn ourselves and our homes with crystals and their elemental beauty. How they are living, pulsing, energetic aspects of nature that carry vibes that enrich us. And complete us. In a natural system, of clear spectrum vibration connection.

As the physicist and engineer Nikola Tesla mentioned:

In a crystal we have the clear evidence of the existence of a formative life principal, and though we cannot understand the life of a crystal, it is nonetheless a living being.

This is why, as with all living beings, we must take care of these lovely things.

Whether as stones separately, or in jewellery, they themselves need cleansing.

I have a few favourite pieces that are prized selections, chosen intuitively because I loved them when I saw them. The best way I select them. And I regularly cleanse them.

If you have some pieces you admire, remember to give them your attention, so that the mutual energetic connection, keeps giving you a cleansing reflection.

And, if you are just beginning and wish to learn more about their sensational features, I recommend The Book of Stones by Robert Simmons and Naisha Ahsian. It provides a great guide to their mineral physical and scientific properties, as well as their elemental healing and boosting energies.  It also covers some history and lore, if you like that as part of reading more.

Another simpler definitive guide is Judy Hall's popular The Crystal Bible, which may be more affordable, and easier to find.

May your energies be crystal clear. As we move into another busy time of year.

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Yum Yum Yum

It does not seem insignificant to me that there are so many amazing events these weeks. A lunar and solar eclipse, a Cardinal Grand Cross alignment, and an Easter weekend. The sacred feminine, the symbolism of the cross, and the resurrection. And, upon reflection, an ever present reconnection of my love for Jesus and his teachings, of the sacred heart, and the return of the feminine feeling function, in alignment with masculine consciousness. Christ consciousness, in energetic immersion.

I cannot tell you how much Jesus, the disciples, the Mary's, shepherds, wise men, the symbolic stories of the bible, and the gnostic gospels mean to me. I was brought up in the Catholic tradition, left it for a period, and have reconnected, in a more personally satisfying and more refined understanding of its mystical condition. The traditional literal, mystical, and symbolic meanings, always ignite my interest. As does the new age reflection of Jesus as Ascended Master Lord Sananda. All understandings clearly suggesting the power of this great master's teachings of the heart, and its important part, in our own resurrection and ascension. Part of the Easter mass celebrations. The Sacred Heart, this lovely, expanding part, of life as a feeling functioning art. A centrally large part of the breadth of spiritual traditions that always peak my interest.

It was during the week that I attended and participated in Kirtan, sound yoga and a fire puja, of another, more ancient, tradition. One that I have come to more personally know and appreciate. Another connection to a deeper and wider heart based intention. We chanted in Sanskrit, the most ancient language, while focussing on the Vedic chakra system. Richly poetic, technical and ceremonial in ritual, it struck me for the first time how delightful it is that the seed sound chant for the heart chakra is Yam, pronounced repetitively as Yum Yum Yum... And surely, when we are in our healed heart and in love, it is indeed Yum. A blissful, beautiful, experience, healthily and heartfully fun. Opening more widely and intentionally as bright as the Sun. Itself the symbol of the Christed One.

May you all be blessed with heartfelt experiences this Easter, April and Lunar and Solar Eclipse season. And may it all be Yum Yum Yum.

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com



Wednesday 9 April 2014

Lustrous Best

It has been a week of being struck by and appreciating the beauty of people in the medical and healing professions. A most needed devotion, and valuable vocation.

The world is moving more rapidly. Vibrations are accelerating exponentially. People are being placed under greater pressure to sort through and purify, so that their energies are clarified. And the work of transcending and ascending is moving smoothly.

That is why those of you in the healing professions need to invest in your own skills, care and rest. So that the benefits you can pass on, can better help others you serve to repair and move on.

I was told of a story in pictures this week. About a piece of furniture. Lovingly restored by the craftsmanship of an artisan. It required investment, of time and effort, to bring it back to new lustre, which is now brilliantly present. A metaphor of the benefit of putting work into the tired, and creating a life re-woken.

That is the work for many of the people healers greet. And the work of the healer to stand alongside. And hold the hearts and hands of those who must traverse the tasks and challenges they meet. Investing in both yourself and those you serve. And with that skilled effort you each play a part in an expansive development. One that can generate moments and achievements that you can venerate.

We never really know what our lives will bestow. And as you are tasked with the duty and passion to help fashion a gentler journey for those who need help and healing, your obligation is to maintain your own life of heart and meaning, love and clearing.

I feel so privileged to be a part of an amazing wide spreading healing and creative community, from many walks of life, and numerous modalities. All doing the best, to keep the light burning, for a world that needs mending.

I salute you all. May you shine brightly.

And may you be blessed, and willing to invest, in what you need to maintain and create your lustrous best.

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved
www.lovingpsyche.com

Wednesday 2 April 2014

What's in a Name?

One of the elements that is covered in the beginnings of a psychotherapy training module, when undertaking preparation to assist others in their self examination, is a thorough process of self awareness and life evaluation. An observation, and penetration, into the deeper meaning aspects of the therapist in training, so that the rigours of self knowledge clarifies patterns and unresolved expectations.

A theme that I explored in my training, was the meaning of naming. And the impact that infers, on the person, their surroundings, and their real or perceived life mission, and patterns, here on earth. This is a traditional concept familiar in spirituality and in psychotherapy. It forms a natural component of self awareness and learning.

I have had three names in this lifetime, that coincidentally, quite neatly, fit into the three phase feminine journey of maiden, mother, and wise woman.

I was named at birth Marija Vesela Dusevic. A labelling from my European cultural heritage. Taken quite literally, each in turn mean Divine Mother, Happy, and Of the Soul. My fate sealed in those three words. Feminine. Happiness. Soulful. The aspects of this life to fulfil.

My name changed when I married, to Marie Bonney, and created a second phase of my emerging, attached to another family, and building a professional identity. Still Marie, and becoming a mother, in the mix of activity.

Now single, I have adopted SaraSwati Shakti, received at a beautiful ceremony, with a Sydney Spiritual community. Defining my wise woman stage. Essentially meaning Essence of Self, Knowledge, Artistic, and Feminine Spiritual energy. The gifted acknowledging of my ongoing unfolding.

The circle turning. I am all three, as part of my identity. Appreciating all parts of my journey, and what I learned and know from each delivery. Content to continue my purpose of soulful happiness, feminine, artistic, and wisdom elements. And a passion for all things healing, and hope in humanity.

And why have I told you this? Because questions about my name persist.

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Sunday 16 March 2014

True You

Being with people who are in their element is such a nourishing experience. Nothing to prove. Just their passion enhancing the mood. So riveted by their talent, and nurturing their interest, in its development and expansion. At peace. In their bliss.

I gain such enjoyment, and always have, for watching the sparks light up in the people I meet, and those I work with. And in witnessing them expand their burning plan, for living a life that is for them ideally correct and real. Balanced, in its perfection, for giving them just the right inflection, for what it is they wish to achieve.

The reason, the unique talent, that a person possesses. That lights their fire, and fulfils their desire, and what they feel they were placed on earth to be and do. Right now, or indefinitely, the thing that excites and delights completely.

That's why I love what I do. And assisting people find and satisfy their 'True You'.

No-one else can tell anyone what that is. It is a task for each of us to find, to elaborate, and to make real.

For many it is a deliverance, from the sometimes unpleasant aspects that their life presents. To balance what is mundane for them. To clear their air, let down their hair. For others it is all consuming, immersed in it beyond all reasoning. For the rest it's somewhere in between. And, in each case, not as a distraction, but rather a connection, to that which is their true reflection. Correct, for whatever allows a person to connect, to their best true self.

Flying, soaring, at liberty. Free, to express, their soul, purposefully built, for joy and expression. Lifting the world's vibration.

Ken Robinson so comfortably draws attention to this fabulous subject when he focuses on the benefits of fostering creativity, and the freedom that that presents.

His book, The Element, is an inspiration, for those looking to validate the benefit of expressing their passion. If you are in the question, and like to read, it's worth the time to delve into the stories he so wonderfully weaves.

If however you don't have the time, sit back, relax and watch this fabulous link. I just love watching him speak. While it focuses on education, it has an important broad message to speak.

I watch it from time to time. It's a great way to stay in line, with the direction that is mine. Perhaps it will do that for you too. To stay on the path of True You.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY&sns=em


SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com



Tuesday 11 March 2014

Gifted Present

Endings and beginnings are the natural order.

Memories and plans keep moving us further.

Yet it is the present, gifted, that is the wonder.

These are the words that just came to me, as I recall what captured my attention this week.

J.R.R. Tolkein's 'Not all those who wander are lost', and a friend's penchant for 'wandering in wonder'.

And, when put together, wandering and wonder, it is the finding, of the gifted present, that allows us to ponder.

Our 'in the moment' experience, of two worlds deeply. The inner. And the outer.

How we react. The 'oh', and the 'wow' factor.

To what is going on with our senses, and the world around us.

The gifted present.

Found, not lost, in the wandering wonder.

Such rich fodder, for the ignited soul.

Taking it all in, as it captures us whole.

An aliveness experience beyond all compare.

A magical edifice for our DNA.

Taking care in the noticing, of the reactions life brings.

And in the processing, as body wisdom sets in.

Experiencing. Then letting go.

Surrendering. So more wonder becomes so.

Wanderings, meanderings. And the presence it brings.


SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com



Thursday 6 March 2014

Don't you just...

Don't you just love it

When the universal orchestra plays beautifully

When you get out of the way of your own unfolding

When you get exactly what you need

And recognise it's here

When everything aligns

And all notes combine

People, places, faces, traces, clues, views

Moving you along your journey

When you actually see, it's really real

That the magic is involving, and evolving

Big picture, and small

Gratitude galore

How lucky are we


SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com