{"id":136,"date":"2012-11-29T11:14:10","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T19:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/?p=136"},"modified":"2012-11-29T11:14:10","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T19:14:10","slug":"coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"home\" src=\"https:\/\/cynthiaoccelli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/home.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"427\" height=\"640\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This week, on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LIFEblog\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Facebook (www.facebook.com\/LIFEblog<\/a>), a group of us agreed to challenge ourselves to a 21 day fast from all negative self judgment.<\/p>\n<p>The more criticism of self, the lower one\u2019s level of happiness and confidence.<\/p>\n<p>On the surface, it appears we\u2019re dealing thought alone. Yet, the source of these toxic thoughts bears noting because therein lies the power to transform the experience of LIFE.<\/p>\n<p>The voice of negativity is the ego\u2019s. Its goal is to survive and protect itself.<\/p>\n<p>The ego manifests in the\u00a0aggrandizement and criticism of self and others. It builds up, destroys, then rescues, protects and repeats the cycle. Through this insanity, it retains control.<\/p>\n<p>Ending the reign of the ego comes through awareness, not resistance, judgment or criticism.<\/p>\n<p>When one steps back and acknowledges thoughts of negativity, superiority or loathing, a space is created between the Observer and the thoughts. This ability to watch the mind think, reveals that YOU are the Observer, not the mind.<\/p>\n<p>Spend regular quiet time withdrawing from the changing swirls appearing outside of you and rest in the reality of your eternal self,\u00a0the real YOU, unassailable and whole.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the ego\u2019s thoughts, don\u2019t think, judge or resist, just shine awareness on them.\u00a0The ego dies not from assault, but from starvation.<\/p>\n<p>Your Higher Self, the real YOU, knows that only the changeless is true and that peace is constant.<\/p>\n<p>When you catch yourself swimming in the ego\u2019s pools of illusion, connect to your eternal self by asking: Who is it that is watching?<\/p>\n<p>The more you realize that you are not your thoughts\/emotions and develop the ability to stand aside and watch, the more space is created between YOU and the ego.<\/p>\n<p>This is where love, Oneness, and timeless ease rule. This is home.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dfluff\/102189587\/sizes\/z\/in\/photostream\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dave Smith<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 This week, on\u00a0Facebook (www.facebook.com\/LIFEblog), a group of us agreed to challenge ourselves to a 21 day fast from all negative self judgment. The more criticism of self, the lower one\u2019s level of happiness and confidence. On the surface, it appears we\u2019re dealing thought alone. Yet, the source of these toxic thoughts bears noting because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28,30,26,29,27],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spirituality","tag-ego","tag-freedom","tag-higher-self","tag-negativity","tag-observer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Coming Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&nbsp; This week, on\u00a0Facebook (www.facebook.com\/LIFEblog), a group of us agreed to challenge ourselves to a 21 day fast from all negative self judgment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coming Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; This week, on\u00a0Facebook (www.facebook.com\/LIFEblog), a group of us agreed to challenge ourselves to a 21 day fast from all negative self judgment.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Goddess in L.A.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-29T19:14:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/cynthiaoccelli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/home.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cynthia Occelli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cynthia Occelli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/\",\"name\":\"Coming Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-29T19:14:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-29T19:14:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/#\/schema\/person\/fa671e272071b76bb896deda759d467d\"},\"description\":\"&nbsp; This week, on\u00a0Facebook (www.facebook.com\/LIFEblog), a group of us agreed to challenge ourselves to a 21 day fast from all negative self judgment.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Coming Home\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/\",\"name\":\"A Goddess in L.A.\",\"description\":\"Spiritual straight-talk from an urban maven\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/#\/schema\/person\/fa671e272071b76bb896deda759d467d\",\"name\":\"Cynthia Occelli\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/author\/coccelli\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Coming Home","description":"&nbsp; This week, on\u00a0Facebook (www.facebook.com\/LIFEblog), a group of us agreed to challenge ourselves to a 21 day fast from all negative self judgment.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Coming Home","og_description":"&nbsp; This week, on\u00a0Facebook (www.facebook.com\/LIFEblog), a group of us agreed to challenge ourselves to a 21 day fast from all negative self judgment.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/","og_site_name":"A Goddess in L.A.","article_published_time":"2012-11-29T19:14:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/cynthiaoccelli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/home.jpg"}],"author":"Cynthia Occelli","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cynthia Occelli","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/","name":"Coming Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-11-29T19:14:10+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-29T19:14:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/#\/schema\/person\/fa671e272071b76bb896deda759d467d"},"description":"&nbsp; This week, on\u00a0Facebook (www.facebook.com\/LIFEblog), a group of us agreed to challenge ourselves to a 21 day fast from all negative self judgment.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/2012\/11\/coming-home\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Coming Home"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/","name":"A Goddess in L.A.","description":"Spiritual straight-talk from an urban maven","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/#\/schema\/person\/fa671e272071b76bb896deda759d467d","name":"Cynthia Occelli","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/author\/coccelli\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agoddessinla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}