What is reality? What drives our perceptions? What can we see when we awaken to our divine nature?

These are some of the questions I have asked myself over the past 10 years as I have sought to find my own spiritual truth. I have attempted to see life as it really is, rather than what I thought it was. I soon discovered that, most of what I thought I perceived was not real. I found that many of the things I assumed to be true were not, but rather created in my mind because I was afraid, worried or upset about something.

I soon began challenging myself to really look at situations in my life more carefully. I saw that many conflicts arose when my self and others simply had a different perception of a particular situation. I soon realized that my self and someone else could have different perceptions without someone being wrong. I soon discovered that we both could be right.

Since discovering this about reality, I have remained curious about people's perceptions of life and how they can differ. Whatever we have inside us deeply affects the way we perceive the events in our lives. Every single experience you have in your memory serves to act as your own unique set of informational filters.

These filters allow you to understand current situations based on past learning experiences about people, places and things. Our brain averages the information it gathers through the senses and filters out items it feels are not essential to the "big picture".

Our subconscious mind greatly affects what choices we make or the reactions that take place in our varied emotional states. There are times we are happy, times we are sad. Our experiences can range from one extreme to the other.

When we experience emotions like fear consciously or in many cases subconsciously, it narrows our point of view or perception, constricting the picture of whatever we see. These fears distort true reality and create perceptions that are illusions.

As we all grow and learn, evolving toward our true, authentic nature, we are often challenged to remove these distortions of reality. One way to attempt to remove illusions from our lives is to make a choice to react to all situations from a more centered place of compassion. When I realized that others had the same issues as I did with distortions & illusions also created by fear, I was able to come from compassion and not see them as so far away from my own self.

When challenging illusions we are all in the same boat which is a good thing to remember. We all try to communicate who we are and how we feel. We are all sentient beings trying so hard to be happy, to be validated, to be appreciated and loved. We are truly the same in so many ways.

When we react to whatever our lives bring to us with greater compassion, it can broaden our picture of whatever is going on. It can even open us to greater possibilities in a given moment. It can set us free from our illusions and we can reawaken our truest nature.

By choosing compassion more we can create a view of reality that is free of so many distortions & illusions. To see ourselves as separate from others is a very big illusion. To grant others the same compassion we yearn for in life, will free us from creating more suffering and allow us to begin to see the true reality of life.

"The thought manifests as the word; the word manifest as the deed. The deed develops into habit, the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its way with care, and let it spring from love. Born out of concern for all beings.....The shadow follows the body and never leaves it. In the same way, as we think, so we become." The Buddha

This is one of my favorite quotes. It speaks of our life beginning from a single thought that is born first from ourselves and then into the world. We must ask ourselves: will my thoughts expand the energy of my life or contract it? Would I prefer to tend my thoughts with care or create a life from the darker place of my shadow?

This quote from The Buddha acknowledges our shadow self as always being there but empowers us to realize that whatever we choose, we create. Each of us has the ability to challenge the illusions in our lives by carefully tending our thoughts, allowing compassion to flow from ourselves to others and making the choice to find true reality.

May you successfully challenge your own illusions this month and find greater compassion for yourself and those around you.

About the Author:

CJ Martes is an international healer, author and creator of Akashic Field TherapySM (AFT), an integral method of Soul Clearing that helps individuals identify and then remove subconscious negative patterns and beliefs at the mental, physical and spiritual level. Trained in Vibrational Healing and advanced Soul Clearing and inspired by Quantum Theories and Spiral Dynamics, her work blends Behavioral and Integral Psychology, Vibrational Medicine, and cutting-edge Western science to produce amazing results.

An accomplished writer and teacher, CJ has lectured and trained students throughout all over the United States. Using her healing gifts and AFT method to assist others in creating clarity of mind, body and spirit. She has touched the lives of thousands of clients both in the U.S. and in over ten different countries.

She can be contacted by visiting her website: www.cjmartes.com  or by calling (816) 841-4890.