The Burning Man

Thank you to all that have reached out and relayed your appreciation
for the positive messages, affirmations and “I Affirm” products on my
site and profile pages. The posts/quotes and affirmations are related
to either my personal experiences or clients/friends experiences and I
equally appreciate the opportunity to provide them.

Today, my content is a longer message. A quote or limited comment
could not contain the essence of an experience I had yesterday.

It has been my experience that life often gives us opportunities to rehearse
the parts we play in the world and yesterday was one of those days for me.
It was one I will never forget. Late yesterday morning, a man in
Downtown Portland, doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire
on the sidewalk minutes before I drove down the street. As I neared the
intersection, unknowing of the commotion up ahead, I soon discovered my
car was blocked where people were abandoning their vehicles and looking
onto the scene in horror. I can not tell you how shocking it was to see this
man so close engulfed in flames staring at me, as if in a trance, shifting his
weight side to side with his arms up mumbling something. I can't tell you how
shocking it was to watch people bail from their vehicles and not be able to do
anything. I can't tell you how shocking it was to watch his hair and clothing
burn, charring his thin physique. There are just no words to describe my own
pain observing this situation.

As I sat there in horror, the immediate thought that came to me was,
“This man needs prayer!” In my mind I called out, “God, send this man
so much love right now!”. I quickly and deliberately told this man, “You are
loved!”. I don't know why I said those words, but that's the intention that
came from me as this man stared into me and I could literally “feel” him.
The words he mumbled were inaudible to me from inside my car as I watched
his lips move slowly, burning.

My whole body started to shake, my hands trembling as I reached to
pick up my phone and call someone. Over and over in my mind I sent
this man love. It was all I could think to do. Eventually the
police/fire department were able to use a fire extinguisher to put out
the flames as he stood there. He was transported to the burn unit at a local
hospital and later died from his injuries. The news has updated their
report to indicate this man was a 26 year old mentally ill homeless man
versus the original report of him being an eco-terrorist (I have attached
one of the news links below).

http://www.katu.com/news/local/82841752.html

This experience has taken many avenues in my mind in the last 24
hours. Terrorism, intolerance, our current states of war, education,
spirituality, etc...and ultimately it has led me to understand that Peace is
a consciousness....a being-ness. It is something we are already a part of
and have a choice to be linked to. Sadly, the man yesterday was not.

It's a natural human response to have a variety of emotions to
describe our experiences, things we see in our lives and in the world.
Creating conscious awareness (of thoughts, feelings and actions) in
our lives is an imperative factor to generating deeper understanding
and acceptance of ourselves and others. Through a deeper awareness
of ourselves, we begin to change internally and our lives start
to reflect that change back to us, in turn, contributing to the change in the
global collective consciousness.

There are many ways to create conscious awareness. Use affirmations,
see a counselor, make a vision board, read self help or inspirational books,
start a peace group...and get involved. Situations like the one yesterday
and similar ones our soldiers see everyday in combat, are unnecessary and
each individual person on this planet can make a difference in our global
awareness by first becoming more self-aware.

For those that may be new to the idea of conscious awareness please check
out my website for a list of books/videos I have personally used. There are many
more books and great teachers I have yet to list that are equally informative and
transformational and I encourage you to check back as products are added weekly.

The more aware we become through daily effort the less tragedy will be in
the world. With this young man's actions many lives were affected and though
the image may fade in years to come it leaves an indelible imprint on our souls.
Perhaps the blessing in witnessing this tragedy is that it heightens the imperative
for people to wake up.

God bless all that were involved and may they find peace.

Much light and love to all,

Connie
www.iaffirm.org