I can be changed by what happens to me.
But I refuse to be reduced by it.

- Maya Angelou

 

Soon after my son died, I was diagnosed with a heart condition. Though they gave it the medical term of atrial fibrulation and suggested several possible causes, the real reason was clear to me. I was suffering from a broken heart, plain and simple. The anguish of Omar's long illness and the grief at his passing short-circuited the normal rhythm of my life, and hence, my heart.

 

Rather than follow the rather horrifying intervention suggested by the consulting cardiologist, I opted to try to restore the healthy vibration of its beating by releasing my pain from the inside out. First, and perhaps most important, I adopted a puppy knowing that the joy of loving her would lower my blood pressure and calm my pulse considerably. Which it did. And so have the acupuncture treatments that I receive from my fabulous Chinese medicine practitioner.

 

Enormously helpful, as well, were the series of biofeedback sessions that taught me how to recognize and consciously control my stress levels. Biofeedback uses electronic measurements to chart changes in pulse rate, skin moisture and muscle tension. The theory is that if we can literally see what agitation looks like and what peace looks like, we can consciously choose between the two. We can decide to alter our emotional landscape and create inner peace.

 

Following this logic, measuring the vibrational energy of our emotions - from the basest to the highes - could help us shift from our destructive emotional patterns to healthy and healing ones.

 

David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. has been compiling just such intensive research involving thousands of subjects and millions of calibrations over a period of 20 years. According to Dr. Hawkins, shame carries an energy level of 20, fear of 100, anger of 150, and pride of 175. The energy level of courage is 200, love is 500, joy is 540 and peace is 600. All levels below 200 are considered to be destructive and all levels above 200, constructive and beneficial.

 

When our vibration levels fall below 200, we feel disempowered. When we are ashamed, guilty, afraid or angry our spirit is weak and helpless. The dividing line where everything shifts is courage at 200. Courage is the first level of empowerment, enabling us to take responsibility for our own feelings and encouraging us to transform our lower emotions into the higher vibrations of acceptance, joy, love and peace.

 

It has been said that everything in the world is twice created - first as a thought and then put into action. If this is true, and I certainly believe that it is, then we must do as Gandhi counseled. "We must be the peace that we wish to see in the world." Or, as Mother Teresa has urged, "Spread joy, love and compassion. The fruit of these three is peace." We can choose to live in a state of empowered grace and peace of mind, which is, after all, the foundation for peace on earth