you walk through the Lotus and the Lily, you'll stumble upon the occasional “Paradox Alert.” In his book Psychology and Alchemy, Carl Jung said, “Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life.” You'll discover many paradoxes in your own deep soul explorations. When you find one, stop and look inside yourself. Capture all your divine puzzles. Mull them over. They hold clues to the miracle of life.
Your Journal
You will do lots of deep soul writing, so get a journal in which to capture your “Nourish” statements and “Paradox Alerts” and all kinds of other insights and surprises. Perhaps you'd like to write under the wise, loving eyes of the owl on the cover of My Soul Pages, the companion journal to Writing Down Your Soul. Whatever journal you choose, dedicate it to this exploration. Almost everyone who goes through the Lotus and the Lily repeats the process and makes a new mandala the following year. Just imagine how exciting it will be to look back at several mandalas and journals and watch how your soul has created life over the years.
Deep Soul Writing
If you've read Writing Down Your Soul, you know that deep soul writing is not journaling. It is a unique but easy writing process that moves you quickly out of high-stress beta brain waves into slower, calmer theta brain waves. It is in theta that we have access to true creativity, breakthrough thinking, and divine guidance.
Three things happen when you write at the soul level: You exit the conscious mind. You get in touch with your authentic self, your soul. And you connect with and activate the divine Voice of wisdom within.
There are seven simple steps to transforming your writing practice and get into the theta brain-wave state:
1 Set your intention to connect with your divine Voice.
2 Address the Voice by name. If you have a special name, as many deep soul writers do, use that. If not, simply write, “Dear Voice.”
3 Write by hand. It's possible to get into theta while writing on the computer, but looking at a screen pulls most of us back into our conscious mind. If you can, write with a pen so you feel the presence of the Voice in your hand.
4 Activate all five senses:Vision is automatically engaged.The parts of your brain responsible for hearing are firing even if you write in total silence, but if you want to add sound, you can play sacred chants, the Theta Music CD (available at my website), or anything else that appeals to you.Touch is automatically engaged.Activate the sense of smell with essential oils, flowers, candles—anything that feels right.Drink pure water after you write to bring your wisdom and insights into your body at the cellular level.
5 Ask lots of open-ended questions. In Writing Down Your Soul, there is extensive information on questions that work and questions that don't.
6 Write fast without editing or judging.
7 Be grateful. Say thank you, because you were heard.
One of the amazing discoveries of deep soul writing is that the more time we spend in theta while writing, the more easily we slip into theta throughout the day. A particularly rich opportunity to experience a natural state of theta is during the semidrowsy moments before you are fully awake. Lie still on the pillow and notice what's happening inside. You can also slip into theta while meditating, praying, driving, walking, and taking a shower—a.k.a., the phone booth to God. (Don't laugh. I get so much information in the shower, I had to find waterproof paper.) For more information on deep soul writing and theta, please visit janetconner.com.
Foundational Truths
I'm not your teacher. I don't have your answers. My saying this may surprise you, but think about it—how could I, when I don't know your soul's purpose? It's possible that the very thing you are wrestling with—and trying so hard to make go away—is exactly what you're here to unravel. So I don't have your answers, and I don't think anyone else does either.
What I do have are powerful processes that help you activate your own innate spiritual intelligence, communicate at the soul level, and find the answers only you can find. Those are the answers that will change your life.
So who are your teachers? Well, for starters, they are you, your soul, and life itself. And then there are our master teachers, the Buddha and Jesus, and the many saints and mystics who reached the highest state of consciousness, called perfection or divine union or Christ consciousness. In the Lotus and the Lily process, we step back in time and stand in their holy foot-prints for a moment. From there, we can glimpse life as they saw it and allow their profound teachings to enter us—body, mind, and soul.
Here are a few foundational truths of the Lotus and the Lily:
1 The Divine lives in paradox. When you stumble upon a paradox, pay attention. Wrestle with it, and you will learn something about the mysteries of life.
2 Modern science is catching up to what the ancient mystics knew: We are an inseparable whole. Everyone and everything is connected in a verdant sea of information, energy, and potential.
3 When the conscious mind is not operative, information can flow to you from anywhere in the universe.
4 The masters of all traditions perceived the truth and shared it. We are not discovering new truths; we are listening to ancient ones with fresh ears.
5 Answers fill us. Questions open us. We don't want answers; we want bigger questions.
6 Intention and gratitude are two essential inseparable waves. They bless everything they touch.
7 You have the power to create, and you have the power to discreate what you have made.
8 You build an abundant life by creating conditions for receptivity, not by wanting.
9 You don't actually want anything. What you want is the freedom the thing represents.
10 The mandala is the perfect symbol of the union of the human and the Divine. It is a three-dimensional hologram that generates a dynamic relationship with all that is.
11 There are two engines of change: the mandala and full-body spoken prayer. Combine these two consciously and unconsciously every day, and your world will change. It has to. It is the natural order.
12 When one creates a personal universe of joy, all are lifted. As your life becomes sweeter, you kiss the world.
A Few Words on Time
The Lotus and the Lily is laid out over thirty days. Many people go through the process in November and December, so they are ready to have a Soul Day and create a new Intention Mandala on January 1. I teach a live telecourse on the process every November to December for that reason. But you don't have to do it then. Go through this program thirty days before a special date, like a birthday, or any time you feel the urge to create or recreate your world. Whatever date you choose for your Soul Day, be sure to give yourself thirty days to play through the process beforehand, so you can have the whole experience.
For some, thirty days is not enough. They find they want to linger over some of the experiences. If you are going through the Lotus and the Lily with a group, try to keep pace with them. Mark the parts you want to revisit, but give yourself at least a taste of the days the rest of the group is experiencing. That way you can participate in the group discussions. You will find that you learn something in the discussion that you might not have discovered on your own. Group sharing is often the richest part of the entire experience. (Go to janetconner.com for information on group-facilitation guides and certification.)
If you are going through the program on your own, progress at your own pace. If you feel you want more than a day for an experience, take more than a day. But please, don't let yourself get stalled on a particular experience trying to finish it “completely” or “perfectly.” These rich spiritual practices make up the adventure of a whole lifetime. Each time you return and repeat the process, you'll have a deeper experience. The Lotus and the Lily is not a one-time experience. It is a way of living, a way of walking; it's an ongoing dance of creating life. And as with all dances, we