It’s a Wonderful Life 
Another valuable message of his film is the importance of the love between family and friends, both seen and unseen. During George Bailey’s (James Stewart) dark night of the soul, he looks over a bridge and contemplates suicide. At that moment a guardian angel in training, Clarence, enters into his life. This reminds us that in our darkest hour, the power of love — even from sources unknown to us — is transformative and can bring us out of our moments of despair.
Ronda LaRue, M.S., is the author of Remembering Who You Really Are: The Journey of Awakening to Soul. In our interview below, she discusses why she wrote the book and her work as the host of Ojai Soul Arts spiritual retreats.She also reveals provocative details about the nature of the Dark Night of the Soul, why so many great mystics, Saints and spiritual seekers have to go through it and what to do if you think you might be in the middle of your own Dark Night of the Soul. Please click the link below to listen to the interview. For more information about Ronda, please visit www.RondaLaRue.com or http://www.ojaisoularts.com/
Listen to the Interview:
This post is a guest post by Rajiv Parti, MD (aka Dr. Raj) on A Simple Mantra for Healing Your Dark Night of the Soul…
Healing form my Dark Night of the Soul was not easy but the three main steps I had to go through were: 1. Forgive 2. Love and 3. Heal. This mantra Forgive, Love, Heal will help one heal from a dramatic Dark Night of the Soul as mine or even what I call a Mini Dark Night which can happen all the time to us in busy modern life: they could be simple things like being shown the finger in an unloving exchange, or being cut off on the road in traffic!
In my own Dark Night of the Soul I had to deal with prostrate cancer, surgical complications, life threatening sepsis, depression, chronic pain and dependency on pain medications. I had to sell my house, quit my job, all the while feeling how my marriage tethered and my health suffered. I was very angry at myself, at God, the people, at the world at the universe.
My healing happened in three steps.
The First Step is to Forgive
I had to forgive my self for any thing I had done, or contributed to the dark night. Forgive the circumstances. Forgive God and accept God’s will. I had to surrender to the possibility that the Spirit alone has the infinite wisdom. There were the lessons I had to learn in this life time, so that I could evolve.
The forgiveness is defined as:
“The process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution.”
To help in forgiveness process I re-discovered the serenity prayer:
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can;and wisdom to know the difference.”
It transformed me. I started to live in present in the Now and not be stuck in what my circumstance once were in past or what I wanted them to be in future.
The Second Step is to Love
The second step was to start to love myself, my life, my circumstances. The beauty is that when I started to love myself, my health improved in leaps. I started eating healthy, going to the gym regularly, meditating and praying regularly. This self love should not mean a narcissistic way of prioritizing the self at the cost of others, for I truly believe one can only love others when one becomes love itself. I started to have gratitude and love re-kindled for the Spirit, the people, the world, the environment; I even changed my car form Hummer to a Camry Hybrid.
Love is defined as:
“A virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection; and the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another and one self.”
As famous Mother Teresa quote comes to mind:
“We all can not do great things but we all can do things with great love. We all can each become a sun of of love radiating love all around.”
So my friends start the ripple effect from the heart, from inside your heart, from your Source.
The Third Step is to Heal
After the first two steps of change within our mind, and within our heart comes the step that addresses change at the level of the soul, our spirit. I have observed in others, and personally experienced that to really heal, there has to be a shift that has to happen at a deep level of our consciousness. Effectively, the consciousness has to not just heal but evolve too.
Healing is defined as:
“to make healthy, whole, restore to health; to rejuvenate ,to free from evil; cleanse; purify”
Looking back I am thankful to the Spirit for the circumstances I had to go through. It has brought love, compassion, Seva (service with gratitude), sharing, and creativity as my guiding principles where as before I lived for cancerous materialism, expensive toys, the satisfaction of myself above all others: it really was all about me: my status.
My Dark Night transformed me to find my true Divine purpose and my Dharma to be a Healer at the Soul level. I wouldn’t be writing this but for going through the heat of that Dark Night. It made me whole.
I learnt to embrace my Dark Shadow. A Gandhi Quote comes to mind:
“Be the change you want to see in the world”
Yesterday only I received a short email from a friend who had seen me last a few years back. It said:
“Hi Raj It was so nice to have you with us last weekend! you have changed a lot since I saw you last in India.”
Another friend said how after five years of knowing that one can see how even how I drive has changed. That is so true.I was always in rush in the fast lane. But now I have what I will call Buddha Driving! I am driving in the middle lane. Somebody cuts me off? So be it…they must be in rush. So my friends my experience is that this approach works. Through the practice of my own prescription for Wellness
in the Soul of Wellness, and through the adoption of this mantra: Forgive, Love and Heal.
I have managed to reduce my doctor’s orders to take 36 pills every morning to manage my health crisis down to only 5 different pills a day. The truth is that I have gotten myself out of intense pain, managed to free myself from depression, free myself of addiction, and reverse being overweight through this mantra. The quality of my relationships with my beloved wife, my beautiful children, my dear friends and working associates is, I can tell you genuinely infused with joy, understanding, love and laughter.
My advice is to not just say the mantra, but to practice it to live it: to BE the change it beckons from us.
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Rajiv Parti, MD (aka Dr. Raj) is a world leading specialist in pain management with over 30 years practicing clinical experience. He was the Chief of Anesthesiology at Bakersfield Heart Hospital where he specialized in cardiac anesthesia for 15 years. Dr. Raj founded the Pain Management Institute of California, and under his direction it has served thousands of patients for acute and chronic pain relief. He now specializes in promoting spiritual wellness and personal growth with various non-traditional healing modalities. His new book The Soul of Wellness is being released by Select Books in October 2012. www.drraj.com
The Dark Night of the Soul has appeared in traditional spiritual texts, famous stories and popular movies throughout our history. I believe it has been written about so much because it is a common experience that everyone who is committed to reaching his or her inner and outer potential must go through. It is a period of time where we learn our most difficult lessons because any flaw, inauthenticity or shadow that is holding us back must come to light so that it can be consciously released. Normally, this takes place right before we are about to have a major breakthrough or shift in our life.
A good description of this phenomenon is in the classic novel, The Alchemist, when Paulo Coelho writes,
“What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon…
‘Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.’
The boy remembered an old proverb from his country. It said that the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn.”
So if you are facing any sort of personal or spiritual obstacle right now, just hang in there and don’t give up. This is a challenging time for a lot of people for a lot of different reasons.
However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If we can remain steadfast, then whatever difficulty we are facing now will eventually be seen as our greatest friend because it gave us the necessary strength to carry out our life purpose.
If you are struggling with the Dark Night of the Soul, you may be experiencing anxiety or depression. For more information on getting help for anxiety or depression, please read this helpful article.
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