Mahashivratri | a night of awakening

Mahashivratri is an opportunity and a possibility to bring yourself to that experience of the vast emptiness within every human being, which is the source of all creation. Shiva is also known as the destroyer. He is known as the most compassionate. Shiva is also known to be the greatest of the givers. Shiva is the primal Atman (Self) of the universe.

Lord Shiva statue at Murudeshwar

There are many both benevolent and fearsome depictions of Shiva. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash as well as a householder with wife Parvati and his two children, Ganesha and Kartikeya. In his fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also known as Adiyogi Shiva, regarded as the patron god of yoga, meditation and arts.

classic Shiva mantra

Mahashivratri is a special night for receiving too. It is our wish and blessing that you must not pass this night without knowing at least a moment of the vastness of this emptiness that we call as Shiva. Let this night not just be a night of wakefulness, let this night be a night of awakening.

#Sadhguru #MahaShivRatri #MahaShivRatri2022

22.02.2022

Happy Twosday! February 22, 2022, i.e., 2-22-2022, is a mathematical rarity - special as well as rare.

The date boasts of being both a palindrome and an ambigram. A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backwards as forwards. An ambigram is a word that reads the same right-side-up and upside-down.

The number 2 is a portal into other realms — it is a divine number with varied meanings and portents. Angelic, biblical, spiritual, symbolic — what power does its energy hold and reveal?

self care

“And every day, the world will drag you by the hand, yelling, 'This is important! And this is important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And this! And this!' And each day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say, 'No. This is what’s important.'" ~ Iain Thomas #NoteToSelf

heart throb detail by David Michael Bowers

Setting boundaries is an essential step in mental health maintenance and gaining the safety, space, and respect we need. Creating our personal rules or defining limitations we prefer. Setting boundaries guide other people towards how to behave towards one another. 

We avoid harming our self-esteem when we start setting boundaries. By drawing the line, we can protect ourselves from being taken advantage of by others and ensure others meet our needs. 

Why should we be setting boundaries and how do we set them for other people - to ensure others respect our space, body, and being?

borderlands of dreams

The hypnagogic state of consciousness is the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to 

sleep during the onset of sleep. Its opposite state - hypnopompic, is the transitional state from sleep into wakefulness. These are the borderlands of dreams - thresholds of consciousness with extreme potential and possibility.

Mental phenomena that may occur in this phase include hypnagogic hallucinations, lucid thought, lucid dreaming, and sleep paralysis. The latter two phenomena are themselves separate sleep conditions that are sometimes experienced during the hypnagogic state.

In this transitional time between the sleep self and awake self lies a precious void of self-regeneration. Threads between wakefulness and dreamtime weave into the tapestry of cognition and consciousness. 

Moth Moon © K.A.K. Lecky 2018 @arctic.selkie

Waking up, in that moment,⁠
coming from the dream world, ⁠
the real world, ⁠
to this one, ⁠
before rolling over, ⁠
before feet touch the floor,⁠
the feel of other places⁠
still swimming around me,⁠
I am in between time. ⁠
⁠
Sometimes lost, ⁠
sometimes found,⁠
leaping from one world⁠
to another,⁠
carrying in my rucksack⁠
more secrets⁠
in the hidden pouch inside,⁠
waiting⁠
for just the right moment to⁠
empty them onto the page. ⁠
⁠
~ excerpt © Elise Stuart 2018⁠