Transforming Fire (Manipura)

       Manipura, located in the upper abdomen, is the very core of our feminine mystique.  The fires that burn from our bellies bring forth into the world our mental abilities, intellect, and confidence.  From these flames spit our personal power, identity, and confidence.  A woman who can make decisions, clear judgments, and assert her opinions and beliefs is a woman with a well balanced solar plexus chakra.  It's difficult, especially for a person still healing, to exert bravery and stand up for themselves.  We must learn to tame our inner fires so as not to misuse our power or let our ambition abuse those around us, but we must also learn to fan the flames within us in order to take control of our own lives and feel the independence that we so longingly strive for.
       In Sanskrit this word means "shining gem", which is very becoming considering the way that life's pressures squeeze us until we either turn to diamonds or dust.  To better understand Manipura, we must first look at the element that represents it.  When thinking of fire I think of the weakest, yet most unyielding, of the elements.  Fire is lovely to look at, beautiful, enchanting.  It draws us in and has a mystical allure that can't quite be explained.  Fire brings warmth, color, and even fun as it dances in a way that seems to say, "I can't be tamed."  When out of control a fire can scorch the earth and consume everything in its path, but when stifled the fire can be easily put out by every other element.  Air, water, and earth can all suffocate a hesitant flame with ease, but fire needs and craves all of the other elements in order to exist.  Fire needs the air in order to burn, the earth to contain it, and the water to temper it.  In this same respect, our personalities can display this imbalance as excessive control or helplessness, obsession or irresponsibility, intolerance or overindulgence, insecurity, fear, lack of confidence or low self-esteem.  A balanced Manipura allows us the much needed control over our thoughts and emotions to help us set healthy boundaries.
       Anytime we must fight within ourselves to muster up the courage to conquer a fear, or when we struggle to speak up for ourselves, or whenever we simply have to employ self-control in a situation, we are activating and exercising our solar plexus chakra.  We must learn to utilize this energy force for our own sake, to fulfill our own personal power.  We need to know that we have the means to tap into self-assurance, self-discipline, and to move forward in confidence anytime we get the courage to reach inside of ourselves and let our yellow fire shine through.  Fire has the ability to hurt others, but it also can take other elements and transform them into more than their original selves.  Through the flames water can become air, air can become water, and earth can become glass.  Personal power does not mean that we have the ability to manipulate others, it means that we have the potential to master ourselves, and that vital capability to choose is the softly spoken message of the Manipura.  We can overcome any fear, conquer any demon, and demand the respect that we deserve.  I will not judge or criticize myself any longer, but instead I will choose to seek out and live my life purpose.  I will light Manipura as a torch held high and let its light guide me to love and accept myself, to stand up for myself, and to be strong and courageous.  It will remind me that I am worthy of love, kindness, and respect.  Its blaze will awaken in me the ability to choose what is best for myself and express myself in a powerful way.  Its warmth will keep strong the ambition to direct my own life and my power to choose.  I am free in any situation.  I feel my own power, and I am at peace within myself.
What burns within you?

"Until you've found the fire inside yourself you won't reach the spring of life."
- Rumi

The Wise Owl Who Said, "Who?"

       My deep slumber was broken this morning by a voice outside of my window.  It was a familiar voice; one that I have heard a few times before in my life, but the words that she said this time were very different.  She didn't perch in a far off tree exclaiming, "Hoo!".  She stood directly outside of my bedroom window to ask, "Who...who...WHO-WHO?!"  Angry at the intrusion, I held the pillow over my face to drown out her questions, but as the morning went on I knew that I would not forget her query.  Who?  Truly who am I?  Who are you?  What makes us who we are?  I am my fathers daughter, my sisters sister, my husbands wife, my sons mother.  I work at this place and I have these friends.  I shop at that place and eat this food.  But WHO AM I?  Under the physicality of my clothes and my hair style and the side of town that I live on, who am I?  If I'm looking past the existential and the physical, am I the sum of my thoughts?  We are always trying to express our thoughts through words and other means of communication, but maybe that's not who I truly am.  I find that I'm constantly trying to shape my thoughts because I am human and my thoughts are not always true.  Thoughts arise through human nature and emotional responses, but they aren't always real.  There must be something deeper, something at the core, that makes us who we are.  Maybe there is no one particular thing that makes us people.  I believe that a combination of things can form us into the people that we are, but only the "at the core" me can shape myself into something more, something better.  Perhaps you would call that my spiritual self, my higher mind.  The part of me that sees a fellow human struggling and bleeds a little on the inside for their pain.  The part of me that goes beyond empathy and reaches out a hand to help them.  The part of me that speaks kind words and smiles at a homeless person who smells of week-old garbage, because I know that they have feelings too.  The part of me that recognizes the soul in the people that I see rather than the human face that is before me.  Yes, we are multi-dimensional, complex, intricate, a system of thoughts, feelings, past experiences, and knowledge.  But there is a higher self, the real me, my soul consciousness that inspires and guides me with intuition and inspiration. My GOD VOICE, if you will.  It is always connected to me, but I do not always communicate with it.  We must learn to listen to ourselves, but it is imperative that we learn to discern between the fear-based ego voice and the aware higher self voice.  Only then can I become more than human, more than kind, more than wise.  I can take faith and be strong in who I am, because I know that I can be more than Jain.
What does your owl say?