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Jesus knew that a state of
loving soul consciousness that he had surrendered to, as an adult, was innately
there in children and that they already knew what he knew. That they all had a
part to play in a slowly evolving loving plan as 16 year old Pakistani Nobel
Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is now most certainly doing:
Allen L Roland, Ph.D
Any
person, such as myself, who has made the inner shift from ego consciousness to
soul consciousness knows precisely the meaning of Jesus's words. When you see
God as love, an evolutionary process with which we all participate as
co-creators, then you begin to realize what
we all deeply sensed as children ~ that
the Kingdom of Heaven is within each one of us.
Until
we completely surrender to love we cannot escape the matrix of ego
consciousness and find our authentic vocation within a Unified Field of love and soul
consciousness. A state of soul consciousness
that exists not only beyond time and space but whose principle property is the
universal propensity to unite. Once we fall through the rabbit hole of love we rapidly
become aware that we indeed have a part to play in this loving plan ~ as I
maintain Malala
Yousafzai
is surrendering to now.
Malala is also obviously in sync with her destiny but please note the already subtle ways her true message has already been diluted by the mainstream press. Yet Ms. Yousafzai offers an emotional counterpoint to the grinding conflict in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. “With her courage and determination, Malala has shown what terrorists fear most: a girl with a book,” said Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general.
She said of her meeting with President Obama , “I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism… Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.” These deeply felt criticisms by Malala are seldom mentioned by the main stream media.
In Pakistan, she has come to
symbolize the country’s existential struggle against Islamist violence. She
rose to prominence in 2009 as the author of an anonymous blog that described
life in Swat at a time when fighters, armed with Kalashnikovs, terrorized the
valley’s residents and shut schools where girls were being educated.
Later, she became a national news
media figure, speaking about the need for peace, which drew her into the
Taliban’s cross hairs. In the summer of 2012, the insurgents hatched a plan to
kill her, then put it into action that October.
See 11 minute NY Times documentary: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/world/asia/malala-yousafzai-pakistan-shooting-suspects-arrested.html
After the shooting, with
life-threatening wounds to her head, Ms. Yousafzai was flown to Britain for
treatment. But back in Pakistan, a news media-driven backlash had already
started, some of it by crude conspiracy theories ~ accusations that the
teenager was a C.I.A. agent, a blasphemer or a traitor.
But I maintain, that when Malala was
shot she became aware (while on the verge of her own death and unconscious for
three days) of her life's purpose and understood what her father saw in her
soul through his love ~ that she was destined to be a politician/leader and
speak her truth to the world from a place of intention, purpose and soul
consciousness as well as an innocent victim
of the violence around her.
I have witnessed the same reaction
in combat veterans with PTSD (all having
experienced the violence and atrocities of war)
who once they touched the emotionally trapped child within themselves, have
felt an overwhelming need to be in service from a place of love, joy and
gratefulness. Here's an example ~
BAND OF BROTHERS #5 / The miracle of Heart Centered Self-Healing | 03/13/11 / Veterans Today http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/03/13/86954/
Five Vietnam and one Iraq veteran with PTSD faced their deepest
fears and inspired each other to open their hearts, conquer their fears and
find themselves in the process.
I told them that this
was an action based workshop and if they did their homework they would reach a
place of not only another choice but would open their closed hearts in the
process. They would also begin to see through different eyes ~ eyes
unclouded by fear, resentment and unworthiness. I also explained through my
Cycle Of Life chart how psychic pain will override Joy to the extent that most
people have no idea that beneath their deepest pain and aloneness is love, joy
and connectedness ~ the Unified Field .
After each session ~
part of their homework was to read each session in my book RADICAL THERAPY /
SURRENDER TO LOVE AND HEAL YOURSELF IN SEVEN SESSIONS ( NOT SEVEN YEARS ) which
reinforced the previous session with additional exercises and a pertinent
story. In essence, I build a safe haven for them to become completely
vulnerable and explore and connect with their deepest feelings. My role is
that of their coach, versus therapist, who is guiding them to the real coach ~
themselves!
Of course, in that
first session I shared my own heart’s journey or quest to find a lost and alone
little boy within myself who not only wanted to fly, and became a Navy Fighter
pilot, but also to love as deeply as I loved my beloved grandfather before I
was torn away from him at six years old ~ emotionally shutting down my deepest
feelings and became something other than myself in order to survive. We
briefly talked about the war and all of them started to briefly share their
heart’s journey and by the end of two hours ~ they began to feel a sense of
commonality and purpose. Their homework was to produce a life chart
of the path of their individual heart’s journey ~ which they would share with
the group over the next two sessions. The purpose of the life chart is to
see their life as a quest versus a struggle to find their authentic loving self
~ and begin to see their war experience as part of that journey.
The Life chart is a
wonderful vehicle to self-acceptance and compassion for themselves ~ for in the
process of sharing their life chart with the group and others they are taking a
major step of letting people into their self-imposed cocoon of aloneness and
realizing, perhaps for the first time, that they are capable of being loved and
understood. They also inspire each other to take greater risks in revealing
themselves which is precisely what happened in Band of brothers #5.
After sharing their individual life charts, they did the Victim /Accountability exercise in session three ~ where they all had the chance to feel the lightness and joy of being accountable versus the heaviness and sadness of being a victim. Their homework was to take the people they had resentment towards off the hook and to realize that many of them they had deeply loved and were really gifts in their lives.
It was during this
exercise that Abraham became the poster boy for Band of Brothers #5 by completely
surrendering to his deep seeded anger, rage and body shaking hatred towards his
past girlfriend, who left him while he was in Iraq, and then, with my coaching,
took total accountability for his deep pain, realizing she could not have been
any different than the way she was and that she was gift in his life ~ and
immediately burst through his dark tunnel of resentment and anger (emotional wounding) and
then exploded into almost uncontrollable laughter and joy beneath that pain and began weeping in joy . That
was it ~ he had emerged from his self-imposed cocoon of fear and soon shared
with us how everything looked different and that he couldn’t stop smiling which
remained the case for the remainder of the sessions. Abraham wrote in his
evaluation that this was the major fear he overcame in this workshop ~ “
My being in a cocoon of fear, anger and resentment and finally bursting out of
it ~ I’m a different person now, I smile a lot more and everybody has
noticed the change.”
Abraham’s obvious
deep inner joy inspired the whole group to
take this all important step in finding their authentic and joyful self. Most
of them had resentment issues with parents or ex-loves or wives and their
homework was to take them all off the hook and see them instead as gifts on the
path of their heart. Once that happened they were ready to finally meet the
emotionally lost child within themselves ~ which is precisely what happened in
session four.
The fourth session
they met the child within by means of a powerful guided image visualization. Every
one of them saw that long lost innocent child who told them what they needed to
do to fully embrace him in their lives now. Their faces literally changed
and became younger as they made that inner connection ~ they were dormant flowers
suddenly blooming. I was moved almost to tears to see these Veterans
suddenly claim their joy and innocence after years of self-doubt, guilt and
despair.
Here’s some of the
comments they heard from that child with the question being ~
What do I need
to do to fully embrace you in my life?
Surrender to yourself
Love me
Believe in me
Accept yourself
Is there joy beneath
my pain?
Yes! ( that was
the answer for all of them )
What’s my next step?
Surrender, go with
the flow
Let go, surrender
Surrender, let’s
visit
Get out of your
cocoon
Open your heart
What’s the most
important advice you can give me?
Be yourself
Let down your guard
Be me
Surrender
Own your joy
Stay with me
Meeting the child
within was a game changing event for all of them especially Adrian who wrote in
his post workshop evaluation ~ “The most meaningful aspect of the
workshop was meeting the inner child and surrendering to love ~ which were two
things that I thought might be an illusion ~ silly me! “
Gary also thought it
was the most meaningful ~ “ Discovering that each of us possesses a rare
and genuine inner self and that negative and anti-social behavior ( that
once troubled and frustrated myself ) is actually the end result of a lifetime
of ego protection in reaction to the outside influences of others ~ my fear of
opening up to strangers is now gone “
The Fifth session,
one week later, was all about gratefulness and thanking the people who have
been there for them their whole life ~ with the help of a guided visualization.
Many of them had virtually not thanked anyone and certainly not themselves.
That was their homework. As they did that their hearts began to fully open
because gratefulness is the lifeblood of soul consciousness and is the only
antidote for unworthiness.
This exercise really
touched Roger who leaped on the homework to fully open his heart and emerge
from his cocoon of fear and is still thanking people who have touched him in
his life ~ “I learned that my fear has held me in a holding pattern most
of my life but I’ve now learned to listen to myself inside ~ that little guy
with the happy face.”
By now the Band of
Brothers were inspiring each other on their common journey through fear ~ they
were beyond the point of no return. Their homework was to thank at least 25
people who had touched them before the next session. We still hadn’t dwelled on
the war for there was no need to. Their military experience was now a
stepping stone versus an obstacle on their path to self-healing. They were
already healing themselves by taking responsibility for love and sharing their
gratefulness with others. Their hearts had opened and they were seeing
through different eyes ~ which Abraham and Chuck merrily confirmed each
remaining session.
Soon they were at
session eight and celebrating the completion of a successful mission to open
their hearts and find themselves in the process. The ultimate fire fight as
Adrian confirmed is the battle with fear on the inner journey to open the heart
and the last step is always the same ~ surrender and let go to the joyful
magnificence of yourself and all of them had succeeded.
Doug, the gentle
giant, closed our last celebration session ~ with many of the past Band
of Brothers attending, but his comments on his post workshop evaluation
probably summed up the feelings of band of brothers #5 ~ regarding Did the
workshop meet your expectations ?
Doug answered ~ “Yes,
it more than met my expectations ~ it changed my expectations."
What personal changes
have you overcome from this workshop?
Doug answered ~ “My
compassion for others is overcoming my fear and mistrust. I have opened my
heart and gained an appreciation for myself at the same time ~ I have
progressed further in this eight week workshop than I have in 25 years of on
and off again private therapy.”
Doug has finally come
home from Vietnam and the miracle of heart centered self-healing became obvious
again for there can be no true healing without the heart ~ which is precisely
what happened with Band of Brothers #5. The gift I gave them was myself ~
not being afraid of their pain or anger and totally owning the joy of who I am
and what I know and caring enough to not let them settle for less than all of
themselves.
Roger thought it was
what he enjoyed most about the workshop ~ “ The gift was you, Allen ~ you
are so full of life, love and truth. It helped push me to surrender and break
down the walls inside of me and find the joyful little boy. “
The beat goes on, the
Band of Brothers continues to grow ~ and I, in turn, continue to be deeply
moved by the most spiritually satisfying work of my life. I’m also grateful to
Sal Ueda, LSW with the Concord Vets Center in California for not only setting
up these groups but preparing these wounded warriors for this life changing
heart centered work
-------------------
So
now back to Malala
~ who is simply fulfilling her life's mission by being in service from a place
of gratefulness, compassion and love and telling her truth from that place of
soul consciousness. I'm sure her father originally saw that purpose in her
eyes.
~ Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and heart centered spiritual counselor Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private Skype consultations at allen@allenroland.com
Allen L Roland is also a
lecturer and shares a weekly political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on
www.conscioustalk.net
“I reassured my mother that it didn’t matter to me if my face was not symmetrical. Me, who had always cared about my appearance, how my hair looked! But when you see death, things change. “It doesn’t matter if I can’t smile or blink properly,” I told her. “I’m still me, Malala. The important thing is God has given me my life.”
ReplyDelete― Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban