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Draw Your Way to Clarity, Health
& Balance
with a MESHE Chart.
by Karen Deborah Farris |
Every month,
Karen offers her spiritual insights for "being
present" in all aspects of life, by calling upon
the techniques of her four guiding principles, MESHE,
HESHE, MISON & ORBIT.
Part I
I was very excited to hear that the theme this month
would be Personal Rituals. Not only have I been
practicing a personal ritual for most of my adult life,
but I have also been teaching it to others. It gives me
great pleasure to present to you here today, my own
personal ritual - a MESHE Chart.
In my column over the past few months, I have been
writing about MESHE (MEE-SHEE). MESHE is your
"you" and being in MESHE means coming from
that place within that is "you," at all times.
It means waking up in the moments that you live and
being present within them.
It is easy to get side tracked in life and to think
that the purpose is something outside of our heart and
soul. Personal Rituals, such as MESHE Charts,
meditation, yoga, and other regular practices, help us
manage the daily work of retraining our minds, by
constantly returning us to the moment. But they do so in
a mysterious way, by engaging us in a repeatable
process, all the while teasing us with the outcome the
process is suppose to deliver, when ultimately, the
mastery of the process is actually the goal.
With MESHE Charts, the process is simple: Ask
question, draw answer. The question we ask is related to
the issue we want knowledge of; the answer we give
decides what part of the Chart we will draw it on; and
the part of the Chart we draw it on determines the path
we will take to resolve our conflict or deepen our
understanding of ourselves. What I love about MESHE
Charts is that the process, once the question is
answered and the drawing begins, is simply about play.
The goal is to get lost in the play, which then allows
the magic of life to replace old and unneeded patterns
with newer more appropriate ones, with such smoothness
and ease, that we rebel not against the process.
I have written little about MISON (MY-SAHN), the
avenue upon which this magic travels. Just as MESHE is
our relationship with ourselves, MISON is our
relationship to life itself. MISON requires us to trust.
It conjures up knowing and acceptance, peacefulness and
calm. It can be stimulating as all out, but centered
around a deep stillness that our excitement radiates
from. This centering that we hold in our body, mind, and
spirit, is what generates the magic that is our
birthright. Doing MESHE Charts invokes basic and
universal principles that ignite and multiply the
effects of this magic in our cell tissue, our aura, and
our nervous system. These three areas are the growth
areas for deep change, and any good regular spiritual
practice is activating change on these levels of our
being - most of the time, without us even knowing it.
Part II
If you think of our Personal Rituals as a daily
practice, the outcome of which is to become proficient
in something that we must learn to do, then a daily
spiritual practice makes as much sense as a daily piano
practice, if playing concert piano is your desire.
For me, awareness is my game. I want to be aware of
myself and awake in my life. Have you ever thought back
to a situation after someone has brought a new element
to your attention, and heard yourself saying something
to the effect of, "Oh, yes, actually, now that I
think of it, there was a big blue ball sitting in the
middle of the room. I hadn’t even noticed, until you
mentioned it."
Our lives are like this. We can be staring right at
something, bumping into unconscious parts of ourselves
all over the place, but until someone brings them to our
attention, we’d have no idea that they hadn’t made a
single impression on our conscious mind.
I like to make MESHE Charts before there is a
detectable problem, (though we can certainly make them
afterwards, too) because I want to be able to bring
myself to my attention. I want to wake up before the
wake up call has to come get me. If I can awaken before
my alarm goes off, I have a far more comfortable day
than when the blaring beeps, bells or chirping sounds
stir my deep resting sleep. In fact, usually? If the
alarm wakes me up, I turn it off, rollover and go back
to sleep again, anyway!
MESHE Charts are the inner prodding that awakens us
before the alarm has to. And the regular practice of
them is the monthly, weekly, or daily finger training we
need to play the concerto of our soul.
MESHE Charts will prompt the conscious mind to
deliver the unconscious mind’s knowledge up and out
for view. And we need to be viewing this information, as
quickly and as clearly as we possibly can. Even western
medicine is telling us that we need to be happier, feel
our feelings, express our hurts, disappointments, and
pain, if we want optimal health. Imagine a personal
ritual that would invite, gently and beautifully, this
kind of release and gentle healing into our body, mind
and soul.
Making MESHE Charts is a practice that can detect
imbalances in our life before they become problems and
issues, as well as help treat the many symptoms these
problems can cause, because along with the gentle
coaxing is a built-in reminder message board that we can
create for ourselves.
In order to do a regular practice of MESHE Charting,
you’ll need to make a quick trip to the store. Go to
any drug or office supply store and pick up two large
pieces of Poster Board, a roll of one-inch Poster Tape,
two packages of scented magic markers, one thick and one
fine tipped, a package of coloring pencils, and the
largest sized unlined journal you can find there. If you
have any hesitations about drawing, it might help to
bring home a variety of stickers whose images have
meaning for you. Stickers can spark creativity and help
to get your mind thinking and your playful arty-self
creating, again.
The list I’ve laid out is my ideal list for you.
Feel free to make whatever adjustments are necessary, to
fit your time and financial needs. I’ll be describing
elements based on this list, so just adapt my
instructions to whatever tools you have at the time.
Part III
MESHE Charts are the Charting of your MESHE. The
accounting of your "you." On a MESHE Chart,
your MESHE is represented by the symbol of a Flower. I
call it a MESHE Flower, and I break the MESHE Flower
into Five Main Petals so that you will always remember
these aspects of yourself.
Most of us who are failing in personal relationships,
are failing to maintain our MESHE in one or more of
these areas. We give up, or give in, too much, on too
many of these essential parts of ourselves. Building our
MESHE requires us to fine tune our Five Main Petals, not
abandon them.
The Five Main Petals are: Likes & Loves; Physical
Health & Environment; Creativity & Expression;
Intuition & Inner Voice; and Authority &
Personal Truthz.
The process of making a MESHE Chart is very simple.
Get out your two sheets of Poster Board (or equivalent!)
and lay them out horizontally on a large working
surface. With a pencil, draw into the center of the
first sheet, a circle about the size of tea cup. Around
this circle, draw five evenly sized Petals to make up
the MESHE Flower. Next, draw a vertical row of circles
(tea cup size) down the left hand side of the page.
Then, returning to the MESHE Flower, add a second, third
and fourth row of Petals. When you are done, you will
have a MESHE Flower in the center and a row of Circles
down the left hand side.
Take the second piece of Poster Board and cut it into
four squares. Fill the quarter pages with rows of
Circles - again, about the size of tea cup, and then set
them aside. We won’t be using them until the end.
Into the Journal, take the first several pages and
trace the rim of a drinking glass to create rows of
Circles here, too. That’s it! That’s the basic
outline for a MESHE Chart.
The Process - ask question, draw answer.
Grab your coloring pencils and magic markers and
let’s run through the Five Main Petals of MESHE. Your
job is to think honestly about each category or prompt,
and come up with as many detailed answers as you can,
putting each one of them through a simple question, the
answer to which will determine where it goes on your
Chart.
The question is: Am I in MESHE with this? Remember,
being in MESHE means coming from that place within, that
is you. If the answer is Yes, then you’ll draw a
picture to represent the answer into one of the Petals
on the MESHE Flower, starting from the center and
working your way out. If the answer is, No, then
you’ll write it inside the first of many Circles you
drew in your Journal. Later, you’ll select from all
the written out answers in your Journal Circles, a few
choice ones, and put them onto to your Chart.
To get you warmed up, draw a face into the center of
your MESHE Flower to represent you on this MESHE Chart.
Take your time, get into the details, though, and play,
play, play....
Once you decide to do this work, and set the time
aside for it, you’ll find hours passing by without a
thought or notice of them. It’s really quite
lovely....
Now it’s time to go through the Five Main Petals.
Remember, for each area that you are in MESHE with, you
will create a beautiful MESHE Petal. For everything that
you detect that you are not in MESHE with, you will
write into the Journal Circles something that will
remind you of the item. You can’t make a mistake, just
play and have fun and watch yourself as your awareness
raises with little to no effort at all.... Here goes!
Likes & Loves
The first of the Five Main Petals is an easy one.
It’s what you like and love. Most everyone is in MESHE
with what they like and love, but not everyone, and not
all the time.
A few years ago, I became disconnected from one of my
Loves, tropical islands. In just a few years of a
too-busy life, I had forgotten my passion for the green
tepid waters and deliciously warm evenings. I had gotten
so far away from the memories and connection that I had
forgotten the love that I had for them, and in small
subtle ways, my MESHE suffered as a result.
Take your time, and think about your Likes &
Loves. Make one Petal for each item you come up with and
draw into each Flower Petal with as much thought and
detail as I encouraged you to do for the MESHE face. If
you find some that you are not in MESHE with, write them
into the Journal Circles.
The first principle of MESHE is to create for the
sake of creating and not the outcome, so take your time.
Let your feelings appear in your drawings and don’t
think about them looking good, or anyone seeing them,
even. Enjoy the process of it. Be in MESHE with making
your MESHE Chart!
When you are finished with each Petal, outline it.
Then go on to the next. Do not work more than one Petal
at a time. This is a process of clarity, and not a
quantity gathering exercise. Don’t be in a hurry!
Physical Health & Environment
Physical Health & Environment covers everything
about our physical body and surroundings. Included, is
our relationship with our diet, sleep, and exercise. Our
home - the entire thing, every detail of it, including
each room, the furniture, the bathroom, the utensil
stand in the kitchen, the floors, the carpet, the
lights, the bedding, the beds themselves. Our car, our
work space, our hair, our clothing, our teeth.
Go through each element and ask the question,
"Am I in MESHE with this?" Because there is so
much material here for exploration, if the answer is a
BIG Yes, put it on your MESHE Flower, and if the answer
is a BIG No, put it into the Circles in your Journal.
Once you’ve gone through the BIG layers of your
physical world, you can work into the medium and small
ones.
For those of us comfortable with this physical life,
this is a luscious area to explore. For those of us less
interested in the physical world, this method of
exploring physical space can bring balance and depth to
our lives by bringing our attention to, and making room
for, that which we might otherwise have simply skipped
on by.
Creativity & Expression
Creativity deals with what we create, and Expression,
with how we reveal ourselves in the world through that
creation.
The two extremes I most often see in this area are
those of us who create all the time, but are not
revealing ourselves - that is to say we are doing, but
not drawing from the place within that will challenge
and develop our spirit. And, at the other end, those of
us who think we have no creativity, or that we have no
time for creativity, and thus, do not use the channel
much at all. Most of us lie somewhere in the middle.
We can change our karmic path by reaching into the
creative powers of our magical spirits and bringing our
vision, truth and imagination to bear on the world that
we live in. There is little more rewarding than to know
that we have personally brought something unique to the
planet and tended to it with love and soulful care.
Creativity & Expression also includes how we move
in the world, using our imagination, finding new ways to
solve old problems, bringing into physical form our
ideas, inventing, being physically active, dance, art,
music, photography, sewing, sports, building, and the
use of our voice, through singing and speaking our
truth.
Intuition & Inner Voice
Intuition is our innate guidepost for what is correct
or amiss, at any given time. We are always, in
hindsight, able to detect an inner knowing that was
trying to alert us to something that eventually came to
pass. To be in MESHE with our Intuition & Inner
Voice is to raise the stakes on the power and potential
that this inner knowing can ignite in our lives.
By committing to our intuition, if we misjudge, we
may risk mistaking an inner nudge for a thought or wish
we may have had, but we gain the ability to learn its
language, and to takes its communication to the level of
mastery necessary for us to truly trust and abandon
ourselves to an inner path.
When creating MESHE Petals for Intuition, look for
events when your knowing spoke to you, and represent
those on your MESHE Flower. In this area, especially, it
is important to be specific. If you think of a time that
you heard the Inner Voice, but ignored it, record onto
your MESHE Flower, the fact that you did hear.
Separately, on a Circle, you can also note the portion
that represents your inability to act on it, at the
time.
Authority & Personal Truthz
This is probably my most favored area, for it is in
the knowledge that we have of our world (Authority) and
the knowledge that we have of ourselves (Personal Truthz)
that our personal power is most active.
If there is a single place I had to name where we
most easily fall out of MESHE, it is in the area of
Authority & Personal Truthz. We women, especially,
are tempted to quiet down what we know to be true, and
feel guilty or overpowering when we stand in the clarity
of our own know-how.
Authority includes where we are confident, our
knowledge, talent, spiritual gifts, skills, and
education. Personal Truthz includes the list of
information we have been collecting about ourselves for
years, but do not always want to admit to. What we know
about ourselves, may not necessarily be a limitation if
it is not owned, but it could become a permanent fixture
if we cannot admit it.
I had to accept that I was a perfectionist in order
to learn to live healthily with it. If we know something
is true about ourselves, and we embrace it -
transformation may be the next hug around the Personal
Truthz corner!
Circles
You have been filling in your MESHE Chart with MESHE
Petals, while filling up your Journal with MESHE
Circles. Now, it is time to focus on a few of those
Circles, and commit to getting into MESHE with a them.
The blank Circles on the MESHE Chart are the built in
reminder message board that you need to help you develop
your MESHE. Read through the Circles you have notated in
your Journal and look for the ones you’d have the
easiest time affecting a change with. Pick out three of
them and create Circles for each on your Poster Board
quarter. Beautify them with symbols and images that will
help to spur you on in this quest, then, cut them out
and place them onto your MESHE Chart with Poster Tape.
Next, look through them and ask yourself which is the
most difficult, and which would affect the most change
in you. Sometimes they are the same. Choose the one that
would affect the most change, and put it up onto your
Chart, just as you have the first three.
That should be plenty of MESHE reminder for the next
week or so. As the Circles become conscious parts of
your life, you can move them onto your MESHE Flower and
choose another to replace it, and so on, and so on, and
so on....
Epilogue
When you are in MESHE, your likes and dislikes, your
physical body and surroundings, your creative activity
and expressive nature, all reflect the integrity of your
own being. Your response to inner knowing and inner
nudges is a BIG Yes. Inner voices are welcomed, for you
know they come from the center of your "you."
You stand in your knowledge and grab hold of your
courage, embracing your power, your skills, and your
experience. You are exploring your "you." You
are living with love and attention, with focus and
concentration - for what is in front of you, is what is of
you. When you have a strong MESHE, your "you"
is your life path, and the map of your "you"
is found in the regular making of MESHE Charts.
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
________
My May 2001 article entitled "Gentle
Conscious Living" follows a woman through three
of the Five Main Petals of MESHE. The "journal-like
process" referred to in the article is a MESHE
Chart.
© Copyright 2001 Karen Deborah
Farris.
Karen Deborah Farris is a successful counselor, healer, and bodyworker. For more than fifteen years she has taught extensive workshops based on MESHE, HESHE, MISON & ORBIT as well as many other self-discovery topics.
Farris began developing her integrated bodywork and counseling techniques in 1984 under the tutelage of many prominent doctors and healers throughout the United States.
Her education into the spiritual and physical aspects of the human experience served as the foundation for her own private practice and the development of a new philosophy. She combined her techniques into four guiding principles, which she shares in her book,
MESHE, HESHE, MISON & ORBIT: What My Grandmother Taught Me About the Universe. She is currently touring with a companion workshop series, where she creates an interactive environment demonstrating the material from her book with tangible, life altering effects. In these workshops, individuals discover a deepening of their relationship to self, others and the world around them.
Through individual counseling and group workshops, she has taught her results-oriented programs to many different types of people
including those confined to mental institutions, substance and food abusers, and generally, people in life transitions, struggling with intimate relationships, or who lack direction in their lives. Karen lives happily with her husband in Southern California.
Visit www.MESHE.com.
For more
information, contact Karen at: info@MESHE.com
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