Starting the year right
Iwould like to share how I started the year at the ABS-CBN Foundation and PRRC (Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission), which I head, and how I started the year at my home. It feels really good. You may want to consider it at the beginning of this year.
At the Foundation and PRRC, I asked the employees to clean their homes in the beginning of the year. I felt that if they cleaned their houses, it would have an impact on the work they do.
Positive energies are just such a good way to start the year –– clearing the old and infusing in the space the aspirations for something better. A good time to do this is also just after a new moon, when the energies are especially on the rise. From darkness on the way to fullness.
The next two days were slated for thoroughly cleaning their work place: the files, the space, just organizing things. It’s amazing how much gunk accumulates in a year. I also did this at home, which took me a week to just set things in order. I asked my help to clean their own rooms well. My kids had to sift through all their belongings. I had to do the same and turned up with boxes of stuff I could do away with. I raffled out a really good air filter I no longer needed, a stove, a refrigerator. I sent boxes of clothes, books, DVDs to the foundation. I gave away stuff to my household help. It felt really good just letting go.
After that we space-cleared. Space clearing is a process of clearing “energetic gunk” that accumulates in the place. Anger, laziness, negativity. If a room has positive energies, one can feel it. If the inhabitant of the room tends to be negative and sulky, one can feel it. It is energy. It is inevitable that unwanted energies accumulate in the workplace.
So the day after the thorough cleaning had been done, I went from floor to floor. I asked all the inhabitants of each floor to come together at the “lobby” of their floor. There was a table with candles and flowers set up. I led them in a meditation. I explained that the Divine is not to be known by the mind –– but to be felt in the stillness of the heart. I read a verse from the Bible that I really like: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God –– He was in the beginning with God. Through Him all things came to be and not one thing had its being without Him. In Him was Light and the Light was the Life of Man. And the Light shines in the Darkness and the Darkness could not overpower it.” It’s such a beautiful verse. I especially like the last line: “And the Light shines in the Darkness and the Darkness could not overpower it.”
So, following their breaths and being still, I led them to feel the light within. Then I asked them to go to their rooms and see if they could sense anything negative and to clap it out. It was important to go to the corners and clap out stagnant energies. It was amusing to me because on their own, the inhabitants of each room decided to group together and collectively clap out anything negative in the corners. At the end of the clapping, they were all asked to go to the washroom and pour water from the elbows downwards, “clearing” themselves of any negative energy that may have come to them.
Then we grouped together at the lobby and I lit the candle. I asked each group head to state their aspiration for their department for the year. If there was anyone in their group that wanted to say something, that was fine too. Then each member in the group took a flower and offered that flower with their aspirations to the flame.
The collective offering gave a really good feel to the room. I have a beautiful bell, which I got from Bali, that makes a very nice sound. I rang this bell at each offering.
At the end I asked each of them to get a candle and flowers and put it on their table, light the candle and put the flower beside. And to let that be symbolic of the positive energies they would want in their lives for that year.
In my home I have three floors. I cleared the space of my help. They have learned to meditate so it was really nice to do it with them because they could go deep into the silence. I had a plate of flowers with a candle in the middle of each floor. In my kids’ room, I did the same procedure with each son in their room.
Positive energies are just such a good way to start the year –– clearing the old and infusing in the “space” the aspirations for something better. A good time to do this is also just after a new moon, when the energies are especially on the rise. From darkness on the way to fullness.
I found about space clearing more than 10 years ago through a book someone gave me as a gift:
Creating Sacred Spaces by Karen Kingston. I was glued to the book and ended up doing everything she advised. The effect in my house was significant. What floored me is when my son sat on my lap and embraced me and said “I love you!” My help stopped squabbling among each other. I was “sold.” Two years later, I attended a workshop of Karen in San Francisco — and I have been space clearing ever since. When I travel, and go to a hotel room, I clear the space. Wherever I go, I try to make the space more energetically resonant with me. My procedure has changed over the years — and I have made my own innovations to be attuned to the needs of the place I am clearing.
I like rituals. When it’s done mechanically, it means nothing. But when it’s done from the heart, they “land a space” and the inhabitants of the room just “feel” different in the room.
We are almost at the end of the first month of the year. It is still a very good time to make “impulses” for the coming year. Keep the light shining!
***
I have this really special oil Ñ it is virgin coconut oil from young coconut. It is sweeter, has less of a smell... ItÕs just a little more expensive because there are less green coconuts available and they donÕt produce as much oil as the old ones. All proceeds from the sale go to the community. I even ask them to offer to the Divine every time before they work so the oil has great energy... If you are interested, call Leah Victoria at 4152272 local 4551 or e-mail her at cattleya_victoria@abs-cbn.com.
*** I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.