August's Breath of Fresh Air from Akasha....

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the August newsletter.  If you've been on holiday, I hope you are feeling relaxed and refreshed.   And if you haven't, that you've had a happy, healthy month.   Here's what's coming up!

Feature:  Where Angels Fear to Tread

Whilst away in France, my husband John has been reading Ken Wilber’s  fascinating book “Integral Spirituality” – and as he likes to do, he has been reading sections to me.  What has stuck in my awareness is a structure that Wilber has devised which encompasses “Mind, Body, Spirit and Shadow”.   I love this and the reason I love it, is the inclusion of The Shadow.  

You may recall that in last months newsletter, I referred to it in the feature “Love vs Fear”.   (If you missed it or are a new reader, you can read it at our Newsletter Archive on www.empoweringpartnership.com) 

What I frequently find in those on a spiritual quest, is that the whole area of the shadow is ignored.  Essentially many people want to just fast track to enlightenment without doing their own personal work – they want what I call “the spiritual bypass”. There is somehow a perception that spirituality is light and fluffy, “airy-fairy” – all love peace and harmony and that when we live in that space, all problems will miraculously disappear.  

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with love, peace and harmony, in fact bring it on – more is needed in the world but I believe that it is most powerful when attained through personal work – and that work includes exploring our shadow. 

By the shadow, what I mean are those  parts of ourselves that we don’t acknowledge too often.   Frequently they are the parts of ourselves that we would prefer others not to see – maybe the crabby, irritable and insecure parts – but they can also be the shining, glorious aspects too.   Very often our greatness can be as “hidden under a bushel”, as our darkness!   

So the key here (as always) is Know Thyself.  Know your shadow – put it on the table in front of you and have a good look – warts and all and equally know your strengths and talents. 

Ask yourself this:

* What do you really like and appreciate about yourself?
* What aspects of yourself would you like to improve?
* What would you really rather keep hidden from others?

This is a wonderful example of how our light can sometimes be hidden in the darkness

OUR DEEPEST FEAR by Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our  

deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.   

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.   

We ask ourselves: “Who am I to be brilliant,  

gorgeous, talented, fabulous?”. Actually who are you  

not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing  

small doesn’t serve the world.  There’s nothing  

enlightened about shrinking so that other people  

won’t feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to  

shine, as children do.  We were born to make  

manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It’s not  

just in some of us; it’s in everyone.  And as we let our 

own light shine, we unconsciously give other people  

permission to do the same.  As we’re liberated from  

our own fear, our presence automatically liberates  

others. 

PS:  If you already have my book “How to do life – powerful pointers for powerful living”, you’ll find an exercise in Chapter 4, P.68/69/70, that will help you to explore and integrate more of the shadow for yourself.  You'll also find the above quote.

If you don’t have a copy and would like one, this can be purchased through our sister website www.thelaughterschool.com, as a hard copy or a PDF download.   (To download your PDF once you have paid, click on Return to The Empowering Partnership Ltd)

Because we like them……

We decided that each month we would include a few links to other sites, either because we know the people concerned and think they are great or we were inspired by the site and wanted to share it with you. By the way, these are not affiliate links and no money is received for including them.

www.lsos.co.uk

This is the website for The London School of Striptease which was founded by my friend Jo King, to teach women to be comfortable with their sexuality and love their bodies.   She’s fab…..and so is her teaching.  If you’re in the UK, you might have seen her recently in the BBC program “The Real Dirty Dancing”. 

http://support.nature.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ecard_landing

The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.   This link will take you to the page where they have a range of stunning and FREE e-cards to send. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOzG0z1K3Do  

This is a 6 minute trailer for a new movie coming soon….called The Shift Movie.  It looks to be in the same genre as The Secret and features some well known “movers and shakers” in the emerging spirituality field.  Well worth a watch.  Thanks to my friend and fellow traveller, Rev. Philip Maultby for sending me this.  

Really useful information….

Because I have friends in many different parts of the world and therefore lots of different time zones, I find this really useful.

www.timeanddate.com/worldclock

If you have some really useful information that you’d like us to share with other readers in the forthcoming issues, email me at

and of course, we’ll attribute the information to you.

If you have enjoyed this newsletter and know of somebody else who would benefit from it’s message, please forward it to them and suggest that they subscribe. Click here to pass it on.

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TRY IT FOR FREE……To read a chapter of Akasha’s inspiring and practical book “How to do Life – powerful pointers for powerful living” Click here 

****DIARY DATE REMINDER: NEXT WORKSHOP****

 LIVE LIFE LAUGHING! 

Don't miss our next 3 hour Swindon Laughter Event on
Saturday 15th September from 1-4pm.  We'll not only show you how powerful laughter is for physical, emotional and mental wellbeing but how it can improve your business performance too!   You'll also have a great laugh and leave feeling energised, enthusiastic and positive.   Here's the link to read more and
book online:  http://www.thelaughterschool.com/Swindon_laughter.html  

Meantime, to see details of our life changing programs and other services, visit our website on www.empoweringpartnership.com.

Until next time, live with passion and on purpose,

Akasha

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