Carolyn Myss author and medical intuitive speaks at Continuum Center October 14th, 2004

On Thursday evening, October 14th, about 200 people gathered to hear Carolyn Myss speak at Temple Israel Synagogue. It was part of a 25-year celebration for The Continuum Center, a non-profit organization that explores the consciousness, human capacity and the interconnectedness of life.

Carolyn Myss (check her website for her full bio) is a New York Times bestselling author, teacher and intuitive healer. In 1996, her book Anatomy of the Spirit became a New York Times best-seller. A year later, she wrote Why People Don't Heal and How They Can, another best-seller, followed three years later by Sacred Contracts, her third consecutive New York Times best-seller. In 2004, she has added to the New York Times best-seller list with her latest book: Invisible Acts of Power.

At the very start of her presentation, Myss told us that we were either searching to live a life of purpose, or we’re in pain because we are not able to live a life of purpose. The second thing we all had in common, according to Myss, was that we all had a library of sacred literature that would not have been on our shelves 40-50 years ago; books like The Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Most of us believe there is a connection between mind, body and spirit, and that physical maladies are not just a chemical, cellular thing. Physical and mental illness has a spiritual and emotional involvement. “Everyone of you has made that kind of transitional shift,” she told us. We are on a spiritual search, but are living in difficult times. There is a merging of physical and non-physical, time and non-time. “The wiring is changing behind the scenes,” is how Myss put it. We are looking for answers in different places, and solving our problems with tools that are outside the mainstream. She went on to say that most of us are struggling with the dichotomy of doing internal spiritual work, then externally working at a job, and we are unable to reconcile the two.

In her new book, Invisible Acts of Power, Myss shares letters from people affected by acts of generosity and service. When writing the book, she discovered that if we are of service to others, we promote our own well being.

“There’s a balance between a human being’s ability to be generous, to be comfortable with being generous, with how comfortable you are with becoming intuitive. And that that comfort level is rooted in how healthy your self-esteem is.” While volunteering to build houses or deliver meals is valuable (that’s being physically generous), we need to reach for that invisible act of power: being there for someone who needs help, whether we want to or not.

To illustrate, she shared a story of compassion and grace. One man wrote that he was so severely depressed, he wanted to commit suicide. As he was crossing the street that day, a woman smiled and waved to him from inside her car. At that moment, he decided not to kill himself. What the driver didn’t realize as she drove on was that she had channeled grace…she allowed grace and compassion into her life, and shared it with someone else who desperately needed it.

Some people are afraid of becoming intuitive because they can’t be selectively intuitive. “You can’t be intuitive at work from nine to five, and then turn it off when you get home. You can’t just be intuitive with clients, and then not be intuitive with other people you don’t want to work with,” Myss warned. Could you be generous to someone you are competing with, or even dislike? If you can, that’s an invisible act of power “where you can open yourself so intuitively you can allow your intuition to come in to you in such a way that you can empower other people. Now that is high voltage.” Not listening to your intuition can cause “intuitive congestion”, where you want the intuitive “hits” or the guidance to be something it’s not. Spiritual guidance does not provide a specific road map. When you don’t act on this guidance, it is the antithesis of faith.

Myss gave us another illustration. Imagine walking into a room filled with tension, and by simply praying to let grace flow through you, the people around you are calmed, and the tension drains. Here’s the catch: when you leave, you can’t say “That was me!” If your interior world is centered you won’t need attention for everything you do. Another invisible act of power.

Michele Jansen is a free-lance audio/video producer and multimedia project manager, who also works as an on-call announcer for KBEM-FM, Jazz 88. In other words, a jack-of-all-trades for the new millennium. She and her family, husband John, teenagers Mick and Lauren, have been members of St. Joan of Arc for 12 years. She is also a happy member of the choir, and has volunteered for various activities at St. Joan's including the Faith Formation Advisory Board. Michelle can be reached at mtj333@yahoo.com.

Truly, this is heavy stuff. And hard work. But the key is to listen to your internal messages, even if it sounds impossible. And be grateful. Gratitude enhances grace. Complaining destroys grace.

For programs taking place at the The Continuum Center visit their website, or call them at 612-374-4948. For more information about Carolyn Myss, visit www.myss.com.