Healing the Wounded Feminine

The Well of Inspiration

2012-02-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

Sacred Well in Ireland

Getting started in any creative endeavor reminds me of dipping ones toes into the Well of Inspiration. You have to step in and get your feet wet and as you do so, you can feel the forces of inspiration welling up behind you, creating a wave that you can catch and ride upon. The challenge is in getting to the actual spring itself. There is always some muck to tramp through initially—some daily sludge between you and the inspirational thoughts—and if you’re not willing to do a little tramping, a little getting your feet muddy, you never make it to the well where the living waters flow.

I have often stopped short before I found my way and oftentimes I have not even begun because I could not feel the pull of inspiration. Yet it is always there if we are willing to make the trek through the mundane.

Taking this trek reminds me of attending to the to-do lists of life. If I find myself stuck, I must usually write the to-do lists first, empty my mind of my worries, and attend to the basic needs of my life and ego concerns. This is what trekking through the mud can look like for me. It is only when I have done this—when this is the very thing that is standing in my way—that I can begin to go fishing for a nibble of inspiration, stick my toes into some fresh water. Often there is a period of washing the mud from my feet, but then the water starts to clear, along with my brain, and my heart opens to the beauty and abundance of inspiration. It always feels refreshing and I emerge from the process feeling energized and cleared.

Perhaps the initial phase of writing, or any creative endeavor, could be called, “Walking to the Well of Inspiration”. It seems like there can be endless distractions along the way, and too often, I can find myself writing nothing at all. I wonder how often this is true with other creative endeavors in our lives. How often do we never get around to doing our art, our creative project, practicing our music, composing our songs, creating our sculpture, taking that class, writing that book, dancing our own dance? It seems that there is a lot of mud to walk through on the way to the Well of Inspiration and how many of us actually stop short of finding it?

The Divine Feminine resides in the Well of Inspiration and She flows out into the world through our creative efforts. If the world is to ever change, if it is ever to come more into balance, we must answer the call in our own lives to show up in new and creative ways. We must make the trek to the Well of Inspiration and drink deeply in the waters of life, letting the Divine Feminine flow out into the world through our creative endeavors.

We must sing our songs, dance our dances, paint our canvases, write our books, and show up in the unique and creative ways that only we can do. We must be willing to be seen and heard. We must be willing to clear out clogged springs and trek through the mud and do the necessary work in order for Her voice to be heard once more in the world.

Moving through our self-doubts and insecurities, we must be willing to show up in authentic ways. We must learn to speak for those who are not yet able to speak on their own. We must write a new story for our earth. We must paint a new picture. We must do this or else we perish. The time is here and we must each one find the courage to pick up our brush, our pen, and our microphone, to speak the truth, to write a new legacy, and to paint a new picture for our world.

The years of guns, violence, and suffering can be changed, but it is up to courageous women and men to provide a new map, to write a new song, to show a better way. The pen is mightier than the sword. Art is more powerful than guns. The Water of Life from the Well of Inspiration can heal a planet. We must be the carriers of its life-giving force.

A Season of Surrender

2011-11-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

During the season of Fall we are reminded of the process of surrender and letting go through the continual shedding of the leaves on the trees. It seems that this process of surrender in nature can support us on our own healing journey of releasing what no longer serves us. It is through the process of letting go of old ways of thinking, feeling, and being that we make room for the truth of our higher self to emerge. In order to embrace a positive affirmation, we must release the opposite, negative one that we have clung to for so long.

Here is a poem by Joyce Rupp from her book, "The Circle of Life: The Heart's Journey Through the Seasons" that I thought supported this idea so well.

Falling Leaves

O falling leaves of autumn,

what mysteries of death

you proclaim

to my unwilling self

what eternal truths

you disturb

in the webbings

of my protected heart

what wildness

you evoke

in the gusty dance

of emptying winds

what mellow tenderness

you bravely breathe

in your required surrender

what challenge

you engender

through your painful twists

and turnings

what howl of homelessness

you shriek

with your exile of departure

what daring task

you evoke

as you feed the hungry soil.

O falling leaves of autumn,

with each stem

that breaks,

with each layer of perishing,

you teach me

what is required,

if I am to grow

before I die.

May we each realize the deep truth, that it is through the process of surrender that we become whole. May we shed with joy and ease all that no longer serves, knowing that we will be reborn into a larger realization of who we are.

Doing More With Less: Our Journey

2011-10-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

Eggs from the Hens

In July 2009, we experienced a front row seat to the current economic climate when we lost a major account. Our business was already slower than usual. This one account was keeping us afloat. When we lost it, there was a moment of disbelief and then a sense of being stunned. What really helped to change the outcome of where we ended up and helped us through the difficulty was letting go of the way things had been and starting to imagine what could be.

We put everything up for sale, the office, house, equipment, and some ‘toys’. We planned to keep just enough equipment to keep the business going. Everything sold within a few months except for our home. A year later, it too sold and we were able to buy a much more modest property free and clear.

Our journey has led us into exploring how to live a more self-sustaining, earth-friendly existence. We have been growing our own food, raising chickens, looking into the old-fashioned wisdom of a root cellar, and playing with the idea of breeding my two dairy goats so as to have milk and cheese. We are learning and doing things that we never thought we would do.

Not everyone’s story is the same, but the principles for design are. What is fascinating is that we each one have the ability to craft the future. We are not victims to what lies ahead, but we play a powerful and interactive part in how the future will look.

Chaos and disruption can provide amazing opportunities to practice design principles. What appears from the outside, as a reduction of resources and a loss of income has in fact been an opportunity to create an alternative reality from many existing possible realities. There were many choice points along the way, as I'm sure there will continue to be, but the learning has been how to appropriately imagine and direct energy in a positive way towards a preferred outcome.

We just had lunch with the realtor who sold our house last year. They came up to see our chicken coop and the changes we had made to the property and also to talk to my husband about building a root cellar for them. Having a lunch that consisted of quiche from my eggs, curried zucchini, fresh corn on the cob, and a salad--all from my garden--brought the conversation home a bit!

We discussed the opportunity that we each one have, to take what will inevitably be chaotic times as the economy and resources shift, and craft a preferred future, not only for ourselves as individual families, but how this might look as a community. Our little informal gathering has the potential to be the start of building a cooperative venture within our small community as we both start sharing our ideas and resources with one another. The secret to success is that there has to be enough energy and direction with a vision to actually bring it into fruition. But it is a possibility waiting to happen and an exciting one.

Much of what I have been learning is about how to be more self-sustaining. But we also need to learn how to create self-sustaining communities. What one learns in a garden and on their own property can be shared with other people. When we care whether or not everyone in our community is eating, we might also begin to care if they are getting medical services, have adequate shelter, and are able to live life in a meaningful way.

It is not about having more, it is about doing more with what we have. It is not about a few having everything they want, but the many having what they need. If we face the future with creativity instead of fear, with cooperation instead of greed, we will create a future that is stronger for our children and better for the earth and we can still leave a legacy that will inspire those who follow. We may not be able to change the world, but we can change our own lives and we can change our community for the better.

One: The Event

2011-09-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a link for turning the day of September 11 from a day of fear into a day of love.

Waking Up to A Larger Reality

2011-08-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

We are living in a time of deep disenchantment, disappointment and discouragement. All one has to do is turn on the news and you will find that you can no longer hide under the illusions of the past. While at first glance, this seems like a dismal thing, if we dig a little deeper into the appearance of things, we may discover that disenchantment can lead to enlightenment.

Things are beginning to appear more like they really are. We have been living behind of veil. What a shock it is to see that things are not the way we thought they were. Many of us have grown up believing that those in leadership were trustworthy and unselfish, that business has had our best interests in mind, and that politicians sought office because of their deep desire to serve humanity. Although some of these things may be true, we are always saddened to learn when they are not.

But the upside to disenchantment, disappointment and discouragement, is that you are no longer satisfied with those very things that have, in fact, been poisoning you. In mythology, it is the crone, the wise woman, or the old hag that out of mercy removes the rose colored glasses from one's eyes. It is She who helps you to 'see what you see' and stop making excuses for what is in fact, poisoning your life. Personally, I have found her medicine, although bitter at first, a needed antidote for those things that were actually killing me.

The story of Demeter, Persephone, and Hecate is one that I have found endlessly fascinating as it so beautifully tells the story of the three faces of the feminine. Hecate is The Hag, the one that scares you to death, literally killing off the part of you that needs to go. It is interesting that Persephone, who is so attached to the Loving Mother, Demeter, is forced to live part of the year with the Old Hag, Hecate, in the Underworld.

This creates a balance in her that no amount of loving could ever do. It is important to remember that the story at first appears as a tragedy, but the real truth behind it, is that Persephone becomes initiated into deep wisdom and is able to walk between the two worlds, in actuality, growing beyond what either of the other two women are able as they are polarized into their world to such an extent that they can only remain in that dimension. I believe there is a deep truth in this for our current situation. I know in my own life, it has been essential.

It is through discouragement that we give up on the old, worn out ways that no longer serve us. It is through disappointment that we learn to make better choices. It is through disenchantment that we wake up from the sound sleep that we have been in and learn to see things as they really are, removing the rose colored glasses that obscure and cloud our vision and work to create a new and better reality.

So we should celebrate this process of disillusionment, for through the death of what we currently know, we will experience the re-birth of something new and better. We may not be able to control the response of the whole, but we can control our own response to difficulty. I choose to let go of what no longer serves me and open to greater learning and awareness. By releasing my attachments to the way things are, I can make room for something better to move in.

Do You Have On Your Butterfly Wings?

2011-07-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, I was enjoying the sunshine on our back deck, when a butterfly appeared on the table and started crawling towards my leg. I say 'appeared', because I never really saw it fly and land. Perhaps it fell from the arbor above my head. Anyways, it eventually climbed up my leg that was resting on the table (I know, don't tell anyone) and then onto my arm and up to my shoulder. I spent probably 15 or 20 minutes with this butterfly.

Because it wouldn't fly, I decided that it must be a dying or injured butterfly and so was just hanging out or wanting some company as it passed on. Eventually, I had to go inside, so I carefully put a little twig up where it could crawl onto it and I set in down on the ground where there was a low-lying shrub so that it could eat if it wanted to.

I checked back on it yesterday, and there it was. Today, it had moved only a little bit further. For a dying butterfly, it was certainly exhibiting some longevity!

I decided something else must be going on. Maybe it was injured. So I sat down and spent some more time with it. It really looked very healthy, other than the fact that it won't fly. It was kind of clinging to whatever it was holding onto and tried to move by pulling itself along with its legs. Every now and then, it would kind of flutter its wings.

This butterfly was acting an awful lot like a caterpillar. Hmmm...I started wondering if it knew it was no longer a caterpillar. So, I got a twig and the butterfly crawled onto it and clung for dear life. I lifted the twig up in the air and shook it off, and sure enough, it took off flying. Not for very long, however, as soon it was clinging to the next blade of grass it could find.

So on the twig it went again and up for another flying lesson. This time it flew a little longer, then down it came. By the fourth or fifth flight, it was really starting to get some air time, fluttering around the yard looking like the beautiful Monarch that it is. It finally landed in a tree out of my reach, so the flying lessons stopped. But this was really a remarkable experience and, of course, raised the question, 'Where in my life do I act like a caterpillar even though I have my wings...' I guess one of the questions we have to ask is 'Do I have the equipment to do this? If so, why am I crawling instead of flying?'

Makes me wonder how often that fear blinds us to the natural gifts and abilities that are waiting on the shelf for us, but that we are too uncertain, too fearful, too careful to not color outside the lines to actually claim these gifts as our inheritance and as tools for our ministry in the world. Although there is a natural process of unfolding that occurs in our development, I think that there are times when we have those beautiful wings all ready to spread out and use if we can just give up our identity as caterpillars.

We've developed our persona as a caterpillar to a high degree and become attached to whatever furry coat we've been wearing and our many pairs of cute feet, and our comfortable mode of transportation. The heights of a butterfly are truly dizzying in comparison and there is a danger that we just might choose the safe route. I guess what I've discovered, is that there is no safe route and that butterfly wings are every bit as pretty as furry coats and that perhaps, with a few flying lessons, everything will be just fine!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Life force breathes Divine Will and touches the Void.

Creation bursts forth. A Son is born.

Logos, Word reaches out His mighty arm, touching time, space, and matter.

Darkness turns to light, the moon comes to life. The matrix of creation responds.

Divine energy. Evergreen. The Living Source. Vital Power.

Light. Sun. Energy. Father. Abba. One.

You penetrate the womb of life and bring the seeds of life.

Your strength and power are gathered in and earth responds with joy.

Divine Masculine, the delight of the Divine Feminine.

You make our hearts beat with life.

For all you do, for all you are,

We give you thanks and our love.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Divine men in our life.

You make our hearts sing!

A New Moon--What Do You Wish For?

2011-06-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

It’s June 1st, and I’ve got my woolly sweater on and am cuddled up under the down comforter trying to keep warm and it’s noon!! Something is really wrong with this picture. I’m watching the rain come down for what seems like an eternity. We have had months and months of it. It’s the new moon, a great day to set intentions and plant new seeds, if only I could get out in the garden and get something done. Ah, surrender, surrender, surrender.

Ironically, there is a major drought going on in parts of the country. There are folks that haven’t seen the lovely, low-hanging clouds that bring on a good, steady misting of rain and turn everything a lovely, vibrant green for quite some time. They are looking at clear skies wondering where in the world the rain has gone. I can now tell them. It’s here. I’m looking at it and would happily share it and balance things out, if only I could. But, God hasn’t entrusted me with that much power yet. Probably, just as well.

Pondering the imbalance of things makes me once again surrender to the idea that we are all in the midst of business-not-as-usual. The weather patterns are not predictable. Jobs are not predictable. What the world will look like when you wake up tomorrow morning is not predictable. The only thing that seems predictable is that things will change, and they will most likely change sooner rather than later.

So, how do you keep your balance in the midst of imbalance? I’ll share a couple of things that I do. One of them is that I have to keep my energy moving forward. By this I mean that I can’t afford to dwell in the past or get sucked into fear and angst. There is so much desperation, fear, anger, frustration, and sadness in our world right now; that if I allow myself to tap into it, I can guarantee that I will soon have more of it to keep me company.

By moving forward with something, I can change the direction of the negativity that can dog my footsteps. It doesn’t have to be something earth-shattering, it just has to be something that keeps my focus in a forward, positive direction. Sometimes that is as simple as a hot cup of tea and a rehearsal of my blessings. Other times, weather permitting, it is a walk outside or through the garden. Today, weather not permitting, it is getting warm and putting some thoughts on paper. Other times, it is filling out a job application, or calling a friend, or taking a nap.

Gratitude is the other piece that helps to create balance in my life and it also has an energetic motion that propels me forward. It is difficult to be depressed or fearful when I focus my energy on how I have been blessed and what I am truly grateful for.

Expressing this gratitude to others multiplies the effects as then another is blessed by knowing that they have made a difference in my life. Gratitude is like an alchemical operation that changes one thing into another. By being grateful, you can turn sadness into a deeper appreciation for your own personal growth and development.

I don’t know what you’re facing, but I can guess that it is not business as usual. I invite you to focus on moving forward rather than backward and to use gratitude as a fuel to help propel you there. I know for me, remembering that I have the power of choice in regards to how I will respond to life, gives me the courage to choose those things that take me where I want to go rather than be pulled into some place that I would rather not visit again.

So this new moon, in spite of the rain, my intention is to stay focused on all the beauty that I am surrounded with, the potential that awaits, the seeds that will get planted and blossom, and great gratitude that I am safe and warm. There is so much to be thankful for. My heart goes out to all that don’t have even these basic needs met. Many blessings to those who are in need right now and many blessings to you!

Ruth Stout and the No-Work Gardening Method

2011-05-31T13:05:00.000-07:00

Ruth Stout,(1884-1980), having since moved on to greener pastures, is my new hero. She is wise, witty, and independent and was way ahead of her time, not only in her mindset, but also in her organic gardening practices. Her book, "The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book" is a compendium of wit, wisdom, and attitude.

I have been on a journey of simplifying my life and working on becoming more self-sustaining in my lifestyle, but I also want to do this in a manner that leaves me time to do something besides grow my own vegetables and raise my own chickens. The following videos give you a sense of the delightful person that Ruth Stout had become, but you get a glimpse of her gardening methods as well. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Perhaps we can all learn to grow our own food, develop a deep sense of joy, and relish living the way this woman did!

The Feminine Aspect of Creation--Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

The feminine aspect in creation has long been ignored, but the day is dawning when we see and sense the rise of the feminine and a hopeful resurgence of the honoring of the womb of creation. What better day than Mother’s Day to talk about the beauty that lies within the feminine aspect of our world.

Apart from the issues of gender lies the greater awareness that the feminine resides within all of us. The feminine principle is the principle of receptivity. It is the womb that incubates and grows all of our creative projects whether that is a child of humanity or newly decorated room or the next masterpiece to hang in the Louver. The feminine is Sophia, the principle of wisdom and she is also the face of creation. She is you. She is me.

In balanced partnership with the masculine principle, we find beauty, order, and equality. When balance exists between the two aspects in creation, the masculine and the feminine, we find health and harmony. In a world where both principles are honored and appreciated, we would see wholeness and an environment and ecology in balance.

Instead, we find ourselves in a world that is out of balance and too often, lives that are out of balance. We are over-achievers, over-doers, and over-exploiters of our environment and resources, whether those resources are natural or personal. As a result we are living lives that are over-extended and too frequently short on creativity, joy, and health.

As a result of our imbalance and tendencies towards patriarchal practices we live in a world where we see a continuance of a rape of women, molestation of children, war against each other, and an ongoing depletion of our world’s natural resources. Truly, it is time to awaken to our collective and personal need to honor and bring into balance the feminine principle within our culture. In fact, our survival depends upon doing just that.

I would suggest that we could begin by making some small but necessary changes in our own lives. We must first begin by learning the art of saying ‘no’. Learning to take care of ourselves and saying no to doing more, having more, and being more is essential to restoring balance to our lives. Saying ‘yes’ to a simpler lifestyle and taking time for some meaningful spiritual practice in our lives is key to restoring the feminine principle.

The feminine aspect is nurturing. It creates a supportive, loving environment that helps a fetus to grow. Whether that fetus is an actual baby or your own soul, a potentiating, protected environment is essential for survival. An environment that is too crowded with noise, materialism, and self-destructive practices will only result in a premature abortion of whatever it is we are trying to cultivate and grow in our own lives or in the world.

By simplifying our lives we are saying no to all of the distractions that promise to make us more successful, more beautiful and younger by simply consuming, purchasing, or participating in behaviors that ultimately just lead to more stuff and a waste of resources. By simplifying our lives we are saying yes to creativity, renewal, and a sustainable life that is in balance and although may look less ‘successful’ by the world’s standards, far exceeds the levels of success that we tend to measure our worth by.

This Mother’s Day, I would suggest that we measure our worth and our success by the simple fact that We Are. Rather than a litany of all the wonderful things that Mother does—let’s celebrate the fact the She Is. Let’s embrace the fact that within all of us, male or female, we can celebrate the feminine principle and let’s remember that the very world that supports us is worthy of our honor, respect, and careful attentions.

Spring

2011-04-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hope, buried under snow, soggy with the rains, sprouts in daffodil yellow.

Wondering. Pondering. Another day of rain. Beauty lurks behind the clouds.

Spirit, teacher of wisdom, speak softly in my ear.

“Precious child, you are loved. Always, I am near.

Listen, deep into your heart, wisdom lies buried in the Earth."

Healing, helping, serving, praying.

Spirit brings healing here.

Robyn Obrien's TEDx Talk on Genetically Modified Foods

2011-04-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

Watching this video changed in one day what I will buy for my family to eat. It is such a great example of how we choose, as Robyn calls it, a good business model, over our health and welfare.

Winter's Lessons

2011-03-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

Winter, long, the days drag by.
Wondering, waiting, hoping.
So unclear the end result
What does God have in mind?

The nights mirror the darkness inside
The questions, the fears, the unknown,
Ultimately striving for balance and peace
Where God, am I to be?

Fervent, anguished, perfected in wait,
I long to see the day.
When enlightened I go about my day
Wondering, waiting no more,

A heart, open and filled with light,
Comes only from one that is empty.
Though carved by adversity, its destiny joy.
Perfected ever in trial.

Eternity dawns with each new day.
The future, a myth of the mind.
The past, but a memory dim.
The power is always in now.

So restless one with answers so few
Reflect on the gift of today.
What seems so elusive and beyond your control
Lies ready to serve you each day.
Yes, ready to serve you each day.

Wisdom Speaks

2011-03-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

"Enchantment" by Josephine Wall

Writing unlocks mystery.

It gives voice to the unspoken thoughts of your heart.

Where there was silence or angst,

Meaning spills forth and overflows,

Cascading into insight,

Tangible essence where once was murky fog.

Vagueness, now clear.

Sparkling ripplets in the form of words.

Clarity. Perhaps movement

And the birth of something new.

Wisdom rises up to speak

And prudence makes way for her voice to be heard.

Silent no more—she shares the secrets to be revealed,

The love that wants to pour forth,

The healing that wants to happen—

That is eager, like a bubbling fountain,

To wait upon your questions.

To answer.

To give towards your desire.

Love Unites. Fear Separates.

2011-01-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

Love unites. Fear separates. We are clearly seeing the results of the hate that we have sown in our country. We will never win by tearing each other apart. Let’s focus on finding solutions, honoring differences, and saying no to fear-mongering tactics.

These are lessons that we learn in kindergarten and yet somehow we have regressed from being responsible adults to spoiled children who play at government, religion and ecology like it were only a video game that when the sign flashes ‘game over’ we can just begin a new one.

Although we may blame the recent tragedy of the Tucson shooting as a bizarre occurrence perpetrated by a mentally ill gunman, we cannot help but question the culture that he grew up in and that glamorizes violence and conflict.

We have a choice that we each need to make as individuals. We have the power to say ‘no’ to violence. Here our a few ideas of how to reduce the violence in your own life.

Say ‘no’ to violent video games.
Say ‘no’ to watching violent movies and shows.
Say ‘no’ by writing a letter to your senator and representative telling them your dislike of using negative rhetoric, fear tactics, and disparaging remarks of others opinions and beliefs regardless of where they stand on an issue.
Say ‘no’ by refusing to engage in negative speech towards others.
Say ‘no’ by focusing on solutions instead of entertaining fear.
Say ‘no’ to assault weapons. The only purpose of an assault gun is to kill people.
Say ‘no’ to talk radio that perpetuates fear and misinformation.

There is an old adage that we would do well to consider. Garbage in, garbage out. There is no way that we can fill our minds and emotions with negativity and expect that we will produce a beautiful loving society and healthy well-balanced children. These are changes that we can make in our own lives. Where there may be needed legislation regarding gun control, there are many things that we can do by just using our power of purchasing, writing a letter, and developing our own self-control.

I challenge us each one to be the change we want to see in the world. Just say ‘no’ to fear. Say ‘yes’ to love. Love unites. Fear separates. Let’s unite.

Winter Solstice--A Time For Change

2010-12-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

Today is the darkest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In addition, there is a lunar eclipse of the full moon making this an event that has not happened for over 400 years! It seems that it is a day worth celebrating and paying attention to.

This raises some questions for me as I contemplate the idea of what is being eclipsed in our world right now. The mental and emotional planes are littered with negativity. Fear, hate, depression, violence, discouragement, and prejudice are the thoughts and feelings that are eclipsing hope, love, peace, joy, goodness, patience, and acceptance. It is a wake up call to each one of us who is working for the Light to step up to the plate and make sure that we do not contribute to the darkness.

War, intolerance, financial irresponsibility, and gossip all work to undermine the good that is seeking to make a difference in the world. Let’s take just a moment to consider how we might be contributing to the problem and how we can make a difference.

Religious intolerance that leads to war is one of the primary ways that the forces of darkness use to destroy and control humanity. Our very strongly held religious beliefs can actually lead to intolerance and violence if we hold our beliefs above the value of another human soul. Unfortunately you see this within all of the world’s major religions. Indeed, every war currently being fought is a religious war—a war over religious beliefs that lead us to kill one another.

Consider who is most repulsive to you, who just pushes your buttons, and whom you would never share a meal with and you have just met your own intolerance and prejudice. Pick an issue that you feel strongly about, I mean, really strongly about and then have that threatened and consider to what extent would you defend your belief—to the point of harming another soul? Perhaps not pulling the trigger, but you could certainly put them in their place during conversations with others. Not that we would call this slander or gossip, which can be as devastating as causing physical harm.

We only have to look to the staggering economies around the globe to realize that we have all over-indulged beyond our means. Greed has overrun many institutions, families, and individuals. This is a tough lesson for all of us as we examine our own need to have more than we use and look at the incredible price that our giant carbon footprint extracts from Mother Earth.

So, what can we do? I suggest that there are four simple practices we can do that will help to make a difference.

We can practice tolerance and acceptance and work towards understanding and changing our own biases and prejudices. Each person is a precious child of God. Until we can fully embrace this idea, we will continue to destroy one another.

We can intentionally generate loving and positive thoughts that we incorporate in our spiritual practice. This helps to clean up the negative mental plane that surrounds our planet.

Monitor our own emotions. Every time we indulge in hate, fear, anger, depression, and sadness, we contribute to more darkness in the world. When you find yourself in this state, have a list of things that will help you through them. Pray, read, go for a walk in nature, meditate, call a trusted spiritual counselor. Do something to turn yourself around rather than be controlled by the darkness.

Practice voluntary simplicity. Cut back on what we use and consume. Become more eco- conscious and more fiscally responsible. We might not be able to change the world but if we change small things in our own lives, it will make a difference.

Source is seeking to partner with us in ways that we cannot even begin to imagine, but we must do our part. The first step is to hold a clear spiritual intention and volunteer to be of service. The second step is to generate a clear mental picture of how that might look. The third step is to form a strong emotion that holds the vision in place, and lastly we must do something to help our vision come to pass. This is a powerful formula for creating change and bringing more light into our world. Let’s each do our part to bring the Kingdom of God to Earth.

Kitchen Alchemy for Thanksgiving

2010-11-23T12:56:00.000-08:00

The kitchen is a magical place, really. Just think of all the things that can be done there? Cooking and meals bring us together. They can unite hearts or bring up the places where we are out of sync with one another. As another holiday approaches, what are you cooking up?

It seems that what we can cook up many different experiences. It all depends on what type of ingredients we choose to use. If I gather together some pumpkin, flour, sugar, eggs, raisins, and nuts, I end up with really yummy pumpkin bread. If I put some vegetables, broth and spices into a pot, I end up with a hearty vegetable soup. What I end up with depends entirely on what I put into the pot.

Cooking reminds me of the ancient art of alchemy. Alchemy was the process of transforming lead into gold. In cooking we take ordinary ingredients, things that on their own are useful and nutritive, but when combined with just the right things, turn into something far more than they were by themselves.

There are other ingredients that we work with on a daily basis as well. Things like joy, love, hope, peaceful intentions, creativity, happiness, and abundance. These are the ingredients for a life well lived. How liberally or generously we apply these and in what combination determine what we will have for supper each night.

There are other ingredients as well, that combine to create a different type of meal. Things like despair, hopelessness, criticism, depression, hate, bitterness, discontent, jealousy, and malice make for a very different meal. The one sustains us and the other poisons us.

Alchemy involves changing one thing into another. How do we change hopelessness into hope? Hate into love? Jealousy into loving acceptance? Scarcity into abundance? To change a negative into a positive is true magic. I would suggest that we must become more aware of what we are actually putting into our alchemical pots. Too often, we toss in ingredients by habit, totally unaware that our own negativity is poisoning our lives.

By observing our own habits and intentions we can begin to become conscious creators of our environment. When we see something that is less than helpful for us or for our world, we can offer it up to Source for transformation. By opening ourselves in this way, we allow the Spirit to move in and make needed changes in our hearts. This leads to an alchemical transformation in our lives. We can then more consciously choose to be a force for good in the world instead of darkness. We can make better choices about what we cook up in the world.

As Thanksgiving approaches, what are you cooking up? Love? Hope? Peace? Abundance? Gratitude? May you cook up something wonderful and that will feed your soul and the soul of your family. Blessings to you this Thanksgiving season.

Be the Change...

2010-11-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

Choose Wisely!

It’s time to vote again and passions seem to have never run higher about who is right and who is wrong. I’m reminded of a saying from long ago by Charles Dickens in his book “A Tale of Two Cities”. It goes, “It was the best of all times and the worst of all times.” The same could be said of today.

What makes the difference? How can we participate in the best of times rather than the worst of times? If you listen too much to the media, you will be inclined to live in the worst of all times. Is this really true? Is it really the worst of all times to live in? Could we possibly be living in the best of all times?

I would suggest that it is a choice of whether or not we live in the best or the worst of all times and that choice is ours. Some folks are currently living in the best of times. There is more possibility to create and navigate the world than there has been for a very long time. These folks are living in a high creative, high potential environment. The world is at their fingertips. They have a huge storehouse of tools to use. Information and technology are their servants. Some are using these tools to innovate healing modalities. Some are using the increased consciousness of humanity to help eliminate world hunger and find a cure for cancer. In fact, the advances in sciences and humanities if advertised on the news every night, would astound us!

There are other people who are living in the worst of times and they are getting worse by the moment. They live in constant fear of not having enough. There is a threat around every corner, a monster in every closet. They fear shortages while living in plenty. They fear catastrophe with each new day. In fact, if you listen to the news every night, you would be astonished at how awful things really are. It’s probably not safe to walk out of your own door!

What truly makes the difference here? Perhaps it is you. Perhaps it is how you choose to see the world. Perhaps it is all depends on the condition of your heart. I would suggest that we live in the reality of our own making. I’m not saying that we don’t experience the effects of the world we live in, that bad things do not happen, or that there are not some serious concerns that need addressing. I’m suggesting that how we choose to participate in our world makes all the difference in the world we live in.

The context that we create by our choices determines how we will see things. If I choose to see each person as a child of God, this determines my context for seeing the world. If I choose to see chaos as the building blocks for creating something new and better, then I can see the breakdown of our current systems as an opportunity for creating something new.

Rigid structures allow for no change. In order for there to be needed changes in our world, some things must die off in order for something new to be born. This happens on a personal level, a local level, a national level, and a global level. This context helps me to see the day we live in as an exciting time, a time when high creation is possible. I have the choice to participate in a loving, collaborative way or I have a choice to participate in a fearful, hateful way. Interesting when we look at it like this. What makes the difference in the future we will live in? You make the difference.

So use your ability to choose to cast a vote. But do so with compassion and caring, not with malice and discontent. Do so with love and not with hatred. Remember, the seeds that we plant, we will be the plants that grow. Remember that it is the intention of your heart that casts the seeds. Be conscious of what you are truly sowing. We do more than choose a candidate, we choose how we are going to show up in the world and we are each creating the world of the future. I want to live in a world where differences are honored, people are respected and cherished, and love is the motivating principle behind all that we do. Choose wisely. We will live in the world we create. This is not about them, it is about you

On Gossamer Wings

2010-10-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

Pregnant within the heart of humankind
reside seeds of compassion, harmony, and love
lying dormant until the time comes
when they must rise and sprout and grow
into the beauty that God desires.

The soil needed to make them sprout is being prepared
through the breakdown of all we know
and falsely cling to.
Through the process of decay
we will see new birth.

We must trust that what appears as an end
is merely a new beginning.
Death is a birth
and by dying to what is
we will be born into what may be.

As the caterpillar dissolves its old form
in order to become a butterfly
that crawls not upon its belly
but soars into the sky above,
so we must dissolve our old broken systems
and false selves into the watery abyss
in order to be born again with gossamer wings.

Living In A Magical World

2010-09-30T07:57:00.001-07:00

Art by Josephine Wall

Are your eyes open to the wisdom and magic of the everyday? When we think of miracles or magic, we often think of something that only happens once or twice in a lifetime. Indeed there is magic and metanoia around us at every turn. There are beautiful synchronicities and surprisingly coincidental happenings all the time. Do you see them?

Admittedly, we often live in a mundane world instead of a magical one. I wonder what makes the difference? Why do some folks go around seeing and feeling the beauty of life and others see only the troubles? I wonder what makes a difference in their experience? Perhaps it has something to do with perspective.

Not too long ago, I was walking down our winding driveway feeling the burden of the many things that needed to be done to complete our remodeling and move. I felt exhausted and tired. My perspective focused on the immediate moment of feeling too much to do. Then, my perspective shifted and I looked at the circumstances from what I would call a higher perspective. What kind of soul would chose these events? Hmm…this did put a different perspective on things. I suspect it would be a rather courageous soul, a soul who wanted to grow and stretch, a soul who was ready to put off some of the materialistic burdens that had accumulated in order to better serve and enjoy life.

From this perspective, the burdens did not seem so great. In fact, I could laugh! What a wild and crazy soul I must have to chose this chaos in which to build a new life. What had happened? Same circumstances, different perspective. I went from feeling tired, to laughing, from being overwhelmed to being encouraged. This indeed is magic.

Magic is simply changing the way we see things. By making a conscious choice to view my life as divinely directed I am suddenly no longer a mere victim of circumstances, but a wild and courageous soul growing and serving in the best way I can. I must simply choose a different lens from which to view the world.

Imagine, if you will, what your life would look like with a different lens? Imagine, if you will, what the world would look like with a different lens? Can you imagine the Garden of Eden? Can you imagine happiness and bliss? Can you imagine peace and loving kindness towards all of creation? Indeed, if we can imagine it, we can create it and our lives and world will change. What are we waiting for?

Move This Mountain: Ponderings From A Long Day

2010-08-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

Richard and I moved a lot of dirt yesterday. We had two seeming mountains of earth sitting beside the new pad for my folk's manufactured home. We are trying to save some money, so we decided we could move this dirt ourselves using our small Case Uni-loader and our Gator which has a small bed and dump on the back that we normally use for cleaning stalls. So Richard would put a bucket full of dirt into the back of the Gator and I would drive it back behind the arena and empty it and then come back for another load. Anyway, to make a long story short it is a bit like emptying a bathtub one cup at a time. Richard estimated that there was about 150 yards of dirt sitting there. Now we are down to about 25 to 40 yards, about 2-3 truckloads worth instead of the 7 or more that were there.

This was certainly an experience in the mundane, and somewhat consciousness altering. I have heard of using repetitive, mindless activities to shift consciousness. I think this one qualifies. I drove past the animals dozens and dozens of times. Richard and I were laughing last night that even they seemed to tire of the repetitive activities of the day. Our goat, Tulip, was at the salt lick, and Richard said, "Yeah, she would say, 'there goes Mom, there goes Mom, there goes Mom'. I think we were all in a bit of a trance by the time it was said and done. We finally quit out of sheer insanity!

Laying in bed last night, I was still going in circles and wondered if one could use this disorientation or whatever to end up in a new place all together. During times of abundance, we would never consider doing this. We keep finding ways to cut back and scale down. We probably saved about a thousand dollars. My how times have changed!

I look at folks who still have an income and steady work and wonder if they realize how many people in the country have lost that sense of security. It seems that we don't really understand what is going on until it comes to pay a visit to our front door. It makes me wonder how many things I am oblivious to because I am not personally experiencing it or am aware of it. I'm also aware that if I did become aware, it would be quite overwhelming.

It brings acute awareness to the concept of judgment and how we too often make judgments about this or that because of our lack of awareness into the true nature of someone's circumstances. We wonder about so many things and yet see so little. Soul covenants, personal karma, group karma, genetics, just to name a few, are pieces of the complex puzzle that from our limited perspective make it impossible to have a complete picture about anything.

Anyway, I had much time to contemplate what the earth elementals would do with the dirt moving. Thought of Jesus' words about if you had enough faith you could say to a mountain, "Move" and it would move and was wishing that my faith were that large. But, in reality, we have moved a mountain. Our manifestation rate is just quite a bit slower than Jesus' was. But we are learning...

Grow Time

2010-08-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

View from Back Patio

We have survived a whirlwind few months of selling our home, buying and remodeling another, and transporting kith and kin to a new location about a mile from our previous home. I have been up to my eyeballs in moving and remodeling. Talk about dense 3^rd dimensional stuff! During this time I have spent more time on my knees than I can recall. Literally!

What I have discovered is there are many paths to enlightenment. Most of us prefer the more esoteric, heady stuff. This has been a time of ‘chop wood, carry water’. As I have been on my knees scrubbing floors, packing boxes, sweeping dust, and painting baseboard, I have come to the realization that there is no ‘great work’. It is all ‘great work’. The challenge has been to bring as much love and compassion to the most menial of tasks as to the greatest vision we have of service.

I have listened to my inner voice moan and complain and whine to myself about the amount of labor and physical pain of this transition. It has provided me with the wonderful opportunity of seeing how needful it is to bring unconditional love down into the very caverns of our most vulnerable, fragile selves.

This idea of unconditional love is one that we look at extending to others and yet it is so necessary to extend to ourselves. As I’ve cleaned and scrubbed, moved and packed, hauled and schlepped, I have had to remember so many times, to love this body and this soul going through this earth experience—to love what she is doing, to respect and care for her struggle, and to let go of judgment.

There are two important reasons why we are here on earth—to serve others, and to grow. In retrospect, I think I prefer serving others than to soul growth. We often look at the idea of spiritual gifts and growing awareness and think “Oh good, this is so much fun!” What we neglect to see, is that ‘grow time’ means painful times because it is through our stretching and pain that our soul grows.

So, we have been deep in the midst of ‘grow time’. I sense that the same may be true for you as well. The times we live in ask us to grow. They ask us to stretch beyond our usual ways of seeing and being. They ask us to get down on our knees and scrub the dark corners of our hearts—to let in the light and release our judgment and fear. They ask us to open to our Being and to release our need to own, posses, and do.

My prayer has been to hold onto hope and to relinquish fear, to honor all and love unconditionally, to see each person as a precious child of God, and to open to the beauty that is all around me. My prayer for you is the same. Blessings on your journey.

Looking Back

2010-07-21T08:48:00.001-07:00

Looking back can be a worthwhile practice, although how one looks back can make all of the difference. Sometimes we look back fondly at an event in our lives and glow from the warmth of the memories. We envision the beautiful success that led up to our happy thoughts and we can sit by the hearth of that memory for quite some time.

Other memories are not so pleasant, and we can find ourselves being pulled back into a difficult time and re-experiencing the shame or hurt or guilt of that moment, that seems like only yesterday, the images are so vivid and the emotions so strong. We feel the hurt once again, and sting with the trauma felt in our very soul.

Emotion tends to engrave certain events into our minds and psyche and when that emotion is triggered once again, we can be right back in the past. When the memories are pleasant, one would think this was a good thing--when they are negative, a bad thing. What they have in common is their ability to remove us from the present and have a past event dictate and control a moment in the present. There are many folks, in fact, that spend much of their lives in the past in either a past glory or a past shame.

There is a way to re-invent our lives and it begins by re-writing our past. The reason this is possible is because all creative acts begin in the imagination. The imagination is a powerhouse when it comes to any creative endeavor. Before you can do anything, you must first imagine it. This works with past events as well as future events.

Before you throw this baby out with the bathwater, I invite you to try it. This is best done in a type of meditative state, so first pick a time when you will have no distractions and find a quiet place where you can close your eyes, breathe deeply and go inside. Pick an event that plagues you with its memories and sit back and watch the usual tape unfurl. This time, instead of playing it through in its usual manner, stop it when things start to go wrong. You know where this is. It is the place where we often say, “if only”. If only they had acted differently. If only they had made a different choice. If only I had not…if only…

It is at this point where you invite your creative muse and imagination to write a different outcome. How would you like it to be? What would have been preferable? In a perfect world, how would things have turned out? You can apply this to any situation. How you were treated as a child by your parents, friends, etc. Changing a horrific event into a different outcome. Take whatever painful memory plagues you, re-write the story, and imagine how you would be different if that event had not happened.

This is where the exercise gets really interesting and where you might be really surprised. In my own experience I have found healing as I imagined being treated differently in a situation. I saw myself honored and seen and was blessed by honoring myself in my mind’s eye. When I asked how I would be different I could see that I would have a better sense of confidence and of who I was, but I also saw something interesting, and that is that I would not have a depth of understanding and compassion about some things that I now possess. In fact, when I weighed the differences in my character development, I could see that these difficulties had actually worked in my behalf and that I had grown because of them.

For me, this has been an exercise with a double benefit. I have glimpsed myself without having experienced some of the more difficult events in my life and I have glimpsed the gifts behind the wounding. In either case, I have been empowered to see myself as the author of my own story, for it is we who assign the meaning behind any event in our lives.

We decide how we are going to look at something and interpret whether it was a horrible thing or whether it helped to make us who we are. It is much easier to be a victim. But by owning authorship of the story and how we choose to tell it, we empower ourselves. I challenge you to write something beautiful in your life. Take whatever has happened and turn it into the story of hero. You are the author and you are the hero. Only you can write the kind of story you choose to live out.

Moving Along

2010-06-19T07:02:00.001-07:00

For many I know, this has been a year filled with challenges. Personally, this is true for us as well, but here we are, almost to the Summer Solstice and we have completed a major transition, jumping over what seemed like an insurmountable hurdle. We have moved.

Three simple words, but they are weighted with so much more than just a move from one household to another. We have moved not only our possessions, but also our priorities. We have moved not only physically, but we have moved spiritually.

Frankly, we are fairly exhausted from the effort, but it is an exhaustion that comes with a sense of satisfaction that one gets after completing a fairly difficult course of study in school. So it is a completion of sorts, but just as one finishes school and celebrates it with a commencement, so it is that I anticipate we are not only ending something, but that we are beginning something new.

The work is not over. Really a new stage is beginning. There is some major work to do on the new property. Accommodations to be made for my parents. Ministries to deepen and expand into. We have many options and choices about what we will create. We can try and re-create our old life, or we can create something entirely new! Life awaits like a fresh, clean canvas awaiting new color and life.

Endings and beginnings are usually muddled up together like a pile of tangled strings, where one cannot clearly discern the beginning from the ending, one end of the string from the other. I suspect that this applies to our world as well. We are seeing the end of one way of doing things, and witnessing the beginning of something new. It all looks muddled up and confusing. What will we choose to make from this time of apparent chaos and change?

It might depend on how we choose to view it, what choices we make about where we want to go, and whether or not we are willing to let go of the old way of being. I'm committing to serve in whatever way I can, adding beautiful colors to our canvas. Colors like love, forgiveness, acceptance, peace. I'm praying that if I open my heart to the Divine to live through me, I will be like the brush in the hand of the Master.

What color will you choose to be in the world?

Create Your Future

2010-04-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

It was a time when I seriously needed to create something new. A mentor of mine recommended a book by Barbara Sher, entitled "Wishcraft". There was an exercise in the book that changed my life that was all about picturing the world that you wanted to live in. For the first time in years, I gave myself permission to envision the life I would like to live. At the time, I was in the process of leaving a very unhappy marriage and had lost hope that a good life was even possible.

The exercise was simple. It involved imagining in detail your day from start to finish. The more details one could imagine, the more potent the exercise could be. So, I did just that, I dreamed of what my life could look life if it didn't have all of the limitations I was currently experiencing. I detailed my house, my wardrobe, my job, and my relationships. I wrote it all down in my journal and then carefully figured out what I could do today to enjoy some of the things I had written down.

I had included a hot cup of tea. Well, I realized I could do that right now, so I sat down and had a cup of tea. I had detailed a hot, steamy bath with fragrant oils. Well, I had a bathtub, so I took a bath. By taking the first step towards creating my preferred future, I set a new future in motion.

There were other things on my dream list that were not as quickly realized. Some took me years. But a few years back, I picked up that journal and realized I was living my dream life, right down to the dream relationship that had seemed like such a pipe dream when I first envisioned it.

Magic, really. We have the power to transform our lives, but first we must dream the life we want. We must then do something, anything to move towards our dream. One of the most powerful questions we can ask is, "What can I do today to ______________? You fill in the blank. The universe is just asking us what we want. I discovered it answers!

The Fire Within

2010-04-19T10:17:00.001-07:00

Do you ever feel a longing in the pit of your stomach that you just can’t explain? Do you ever feel homesick, but you are sitting on your front porch? Do you ever wonder why you can’t just be content with the way things are? Do you ever just wonder?

It is the Divine Feminine that awakens us with longing to reunite with the Beloved. It is the mystery of the hieros gamos, or the sacred marriage within that brings us to an awareness of the Whole--that awakens us to the fact that we are a part of something much larger than our own little lives.

The Divine Feminine is She Who Dwells Within, the indwelling Spirit, that awakens our spirit and invites us to move into a greater state of Being instead of doing. She creates an inner balance of the feminine with the masculine and brings us into a greater state of awareness of our relationship with All That Is.

I have found that She creates a longing that cannot be ignored. She insists that we listen to Her voice. She plants a seed that grows within us, inviting us to awaken. She lights a fire. She poses questions. She stirs up our life. She kicks us out of our comfortable nest. She insists that we learn to fly. She becomes the fly within our ointment, necessitating that we throw out the old and invite in the new. When She shows up, you cannot ignore Her. She is She Who Must Be Heard! She is the fire within.

Take the Road Less Traveled

2010-04-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

What is the most powerful force in the world? What can reach in and transform any situation? What can change any relationship for the better? What has the power to transform our world? You already know the answer to this. It lives deep inside you. It rests within your heart just waiting to open into greater possibility.

That beautiful gift comes straight from Source and flows through you. It courses through your veins. It holds all of life together. It can fix any problem we face. It waits on us to value it, to honor it, to see it as the powerful force that it is. It can reconcile any problem. It can bridge any gulf. It is pure magic.

The magic lives in us. We can wield its power. We can transform the world with it. We can transform our lives with it. We can choose love. Yes, we can be willing to open our hearts to love. We can transform everything, right now, by choosing love. It is that powerful. It is that magical. It is that available. Right now. Not tomorrow. Not some day. It is our choice. Choose love.

It is the road less traveled. Make it the road you travel. Today. Be the Magic. Be the Beauty. Be the conduit for transformation. Be Love. It will make all the difference.

Healing the Family Tree

2010-03-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

Meditation can often act as a means to discover hidden soul gifts or wounds. It can act as a vehicle to take us to places where work needs to be done. Recently, I went on a healing journey in my meditation to discover the source of some wounds that needed healing. I did this through the usual means that I use in meditation and that is to create a sacred space around me, invite my angels and guides to surround me, and to ask the Spirit’s guidance in helping me to go where I need to go in order to best serve.

What I discovered on my journey was that my sense of wounding came from my ancestors that had suffered in a similar way to mine generation after generation. In other words, the wound had been passed along through the genetic line and through acting out the same behaviors over and over so that it became a characteristic within the family.

When we step outside of third dimensional reality, we discover that there is no such thing as time. We understand that God lives outside of time and has no beginning and no end and is even the beginning and the end at the same time! If we understand this concept, which I readily admit, I don’t, but I know it to be true, we can surmise that if we heal something that is deep within our genetic self, we heal it backwards and forwards.

In my meditation, I asked for this wound to be healed and visualized the re-weaving of the DNA so that it was whole again. Recently, the words and music to a song have come to me and I was shocked to realize that they fit perfectly the description of re-writing DNA and ancestral healing. In my meditation the words and music were sung over the ancestors. One verse describes this so well:

Weaving and spinning the threads within our lives,
Knitting together the stitches of time.
Carefully, the pieces are sewn into a whole.
Beautifully, they show the light of soul.

Perhaps one of the reasons we are here is to heal not only our own wounds, but also the wounds of the ancestors. In other words, ‘the buck stops here’. We have a wonderful ministry to our families when we can see it in this light. We have as much help as we need to accomplish this and we don’t have to know how it is done, we just have to volunteer to be an agent for change and healing within our family.

Harp As An Instrument of Healing

2010-02-24T08:14:00.001-08:00

The harp is one of the oldest of all instruments. It is on ancient monuments and in sacred texts. The angels are often pictured playing a harp. Many people wonder about the harp and why it should be used in hospice, hospital settings, and nursing homes. The simple answer is that the harp has healing qualities.

Many describe the sound of the harp as heavenly. The music of the harp has a way of opening the heart. There are many technical reasons about how the vibrations of the harp can resonate with the body, but the more straightforward, compelling reason to have harp at the bedside of a patient is that it opens the heart.

Music opens us in ways that are gentle and invisible. It is the back door to the soul. It slips in unannounced and is the Spirit's vehicle or ambassador for communion and healing. Music bypasses barriers and resistances that we create emotionally and mentally and seems to be able to slip in and sit in witness with us as we navigate troubled waters.

Music creates a type of entrainment that allows us to rise above current levels of functioning and brings us into harmony with a greater purpose and sense of being. The whole idea of harmony is that we are in tune with one another--that we fit into a greater picture--that we each sound a unique note and our able to participate in the greater symphonic work of at-one-ment. Music helps us to remember that we are one. It tunes us up and draws us together and in the process helps to heal our sense of separation.

In this sense, music can speak for us and through us when words fail and fall short. We are far more removed from the idea of music as a type of keening or grieving through music than are other cultures where music gives voice to grief as well as celebration. Music gives voice to the unspeakable whether through the human voice or through an instrument like the harp.

The music of the harp creates an atmosphere of peace that sweeps away fear, depression, desperation, and hopelessness. It creates an opening for healing to take place. Whether or not a person recovers from their illness or not is less important than the spiritual healing that so often needs to take place. Many people struggling from terminal illness are finally able to pass away restfully when they are no longer in fear or are wrestling with unfinished business.

Having a spiritually aware harp practitioner present with a patient can be one of the greatest gifts that a family or caregiver can give to a dying person. When music opens the heart of a person it allows for angels and other spiritual beings to minister to them in a way that is not possible when they are in fear or regret and desperation. It is not that the individual playing the harp has these abilities, but that they can create the space for healing to happen, and from my experience, this type of healing always comes from the heavenly realms. This is how music becomes the vehicle for healing, which is not so much about curing as it is about creating spiritual wholeness.

Veritable Quandry or Soul Review?

2010-01-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

Thoughts for the New Year:

Exiting the Veritable Quandary
Or Entering the Soul Review?

What needs to be released?
What needs to be embraced?
What no longer serves?
What longs to be drawn near?

Who am I today?
Who will I be someday?
Who is the “Me” that no longer exists?

Where do I want to go?
Where have I been?
Where am I now?

Why do I try so hard?
Why do I try so little?
Why is there no right or wrong way?
Why is there a why?

When will I be done?
When will I begin?
When is the time right?
When is the time wrong?
When do you ever know anything for certain?

Now. Never.
Always. Sometimes.
Everything. Nothing.
Begin. Stop.
Go Forward. Remain.
Relax.
Enjoy.
Show up.

Winter Solstice

2009-12-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

As winter arrives and darkness descends,
May the light of eternal love fill your heart.

As the dawn arrives earlier on the morrow
May the hope of brighter days bring you peace.

May you go out in joy and may love inspire all that you do.

The Dance of Gratitude

2009-11-24T07:02:00.000-08:00

Give Thanks

Gratitude is the magic elixir that makes the difficulties in life palatable. Gratitude is the sugar that helps one to swallow the bitter pill. To be grateful when things are easy is one thing, to be grateful when everything goes terribly wrong is quite another. Yet gratitude is the golden key that unlocks the door to acceptance, joy, and abundance.

One of the challenges that stands in the way of our being grateful during difficult times is our attachment to the way things are. Most of us hate change. We become attached to, well, we become attached to just about everything; we are attached to our stuff, our identity, our job, our income, our families, you name it. Conversely, we are attached to our dramas, our struggles, our past, and our stories.

So what does attachment have to do with gratitude? It seems that to be grateful we must be accepting of what comes our way. Yes, I’m suggesting that we accept things just the way they are and bless them because it is only from the standpoint of acceptance that we can actually change what needs to be changed.

We often live in denial of the way things are. It is our denial that creates the tension between where we are and where we think we should be. It is only when we open ourselves to the present and accept what is that we can be in relationship with it in a new and powerful way. We attract the present to us like a magnet. We are the product of our choices and consciousness.

This is a difficult pill to swallow. Gratitude is the sweet elixir that makes it possible to be in relationship to less than desirable circumstances. When I can bless what is, I can then begin the process of transforming what is into something different. It is through the power of my blessing that I change the focus of my consciousness. In other words, I come into new relationship with it. I become a co-creator with reality.

As I learn to dance with what has shown up in my life, I am able to use the power of its momentum to craft a new direction. Just as a waltz twirls and spins, so can I use the energy of life to explore its myriad possibilities. Rather than view circumstances as a train bent for hell, I can start to dance with my life and turn it in a different direction.

Gratitude is the action, the energy that turns life into a dance. If you find yourself headed somewhere you would rather not go and feel that a situation or circumstance is pulling you along, stop for a moment and look it straight in the eyes and tell it thank you for being with you. Open your heart and send it all the love you can muster and then with a smile on your face ask, “Would you like to dance?”

Lessons From the Harp--Being in Tune

2009-10-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

The harp is an instrument that needs to be tuned frequently, preferably every day. When I first started playing the harp, it seemed that it took way too long. It seemed that it would be so nice to just start playing and not have to spend the time it took to get it tuned up. But when it is out of tune, it is no fun to play. It becomes the first step towards making beautiful music.

To tune the harp, I use a wrench designed to turn the pins on the harp so that I can lengthen or shorten the string. I attach a tuning instrument that reflects when the string is in tune. When it is perfectly in tune, the needle balances right in the middle and the sound of the plucked string resonates at just the right vibration. There is no wobbling like when the note is sharp or flat. Sometimes, it requires a lot of patience to get the note just right. The smallest adjustment on the pin can make it go from flat to sharp. Oftentimes, I have to adjust it very carefully several times.

There are many comparisons to playing music beautifully in life as well. Getting in tune helps the music of one’s life and the outcome of one’s ministry to sound more beautiful and to have better results. I think of meditation as a form of getting in tune. It is during meditation that I get tuned up for the day.

The word that resonates with me for this concept is "a-tune-ment". It is like the at-one-ment that we think of when coming into alignment with Source. It is being in tune with the frequency of Divine Love. It is said that our souls emit a sound, a frequency that can be heard and that we are recognized by this sound. When we are in tune with the frequency of love we can be assured that our melody will be sweet and that we will put forth beautiful music in our lives. It is through this process of being attuned that Spirit makes the fine adjustments necessary to help us resonate at the right frequency.

The lesson from the harp is that I need to be in tune each day if I want to be a light in the world. By taking the time for spiritual practice and aligning with Source, I will find the music of my heart sounding more beautiful and it will hopefully be a healing agent of love and light.

Turning Difficulty into Beauty

2009-09-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

It seems that no matter where I go these days, whether at the grocery store, veterinary clinic, or with friends and family, I find people experiencing a higher than usual level of difficulty than in the past. We are all going through a growth spurt. Difficulty is an opportunity in disguise. What looks like a problem is really a challenge to change and move into a higher level of being.

How many times do we miss this and only see the problem? When I look back on my life, I find that my times of greatest spiritual development and personal growth have come from struggling. We learn through resistance. We must push against the norm in order to break into a different way of seeing and being.

Our human nature much prefers that life is easy. In fact, in religion, we have even suggested that if you are following God’s will, your life will be blessed, and if you are not doing so well, we have a wee tendency to look down our noses at one another and secretly, or perhaps not so secretly, wonder what one has done to deserve these circumstances.

While in fact we do attract circumstances to us, we could hold much less moral judgment towards things than we do. We attract what we need to learn. This is a blessing from our soul. I can’t tell you what your circumstances are trying to teach you, but I can look at my own life and try to glean from mine what might be trying to grow inside of me.

The very things that have appeared in the guise of tragedy in my life have turned out to be the catalyst for beauty. Just like the small particle of sand embedded inside an oyster begins the process of creating a beautiful pearl, so difficulty, struggle, set-backs, hardship, and tragedy begin the process of creating beauty in our character.

This is a hard pill to swallow. We have lived in a culture of ease, a mindset of personal comfort and security, an emphasis on self-interest and getting ahead, and strong focus on personal, professional, and financial success. It is not difficult to see how we are so easily discouraged by discomfort and hardship.

Perhaps this gives us a small glimpse into our need to be moved outside of this artificial reality into an environment that will facilitate more growth. We can be blessed into hell. When difficulties come, we can hear them as a herald, an invitation, to grow more fully into God’s intention for our lives.

When we can accept what has happened in our lives and move into relationship with it, we begin the process of reconciliation with reality. This acceptance allows us to move through it with more grace. We learn to dance with what has shown up on our doorstep and with this acceptance we are able to pass more quickly through the difficulty into the fruits of growth that it brings with it.

By blessing what appears to be a curse, it is transformed, and so are we. I wish for you many blessings as you come into relationship with whatever is posing on your doorstep as a giant challenge. May you learn to be in beautiful relationship with one another and see your nemesis become your teacher.

Neti, Neti

2009-09-18T07:49:00.001-07:00

"Changing Lead into Gold"

Perhaps it is time for an update lest anyone think that we have sunk in the quagmire of change! Well we have not sunk, but we have changed! The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of reorganizing our lives. With the loss of one of our major accounts we were thrown into what I would call a crisis of re-orientation. It has been a time to re-evaluate and make adjustments. It has been an alchemical fire.

Alchemy is about changing one substance into another. It is a process of transformation. Unfortunately, or so it seems, alchemy involves fire and heat. In order to change the substance of dross into gold, it is necessary to subject it to the element of fire. I can’t say that this is a process that I find comfortable or fun. Indeed, it is painful at times.

It seems that on the spiritual path we are all attracted to the beautiful parts. At times we soar with the Spirit, we hear the gentle voice of God speak to our hearts, we marvel at the wonderful gifts and we delight in the many beauties that mark the path. But so much of the path involves a process of subtraction. I call it making room for Spirit.

It is this particular part of growth that tests, tempers, and tries us. I have not met anyone who enjoys it. But it is necessary in order to remove all that no longer serves us. Through the process of subtraction we are left with only those things that will support us in our return trip to Source. It is neti, neti or nothing, nothing. “I am not this. Nor am I this”.

We so easily identify ourselves as a personality, or a title, or job, or a station in life. We are, in reality, none of these things. What we have forgotten is that we are a spark off the Divine and that our lives are intended to become a reflection of that Divine spark. We lose our way in the quagmire of the material plane and it is only through the alchemical fires of purification that we are able to see more clearly who we are and why we are here.

When we remember that this is what the trials are here to teach us, we can then truly rejoice for we can know that they are working to transform our lead into gold. In the alchemical fire our dross is being turned to gold and we begin to sense more of the spark that is our Divine inheritance. May we each one embrace the nothingness that leads to everything of importance.

Survival Guide For Hard Times

2009-07-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

The last several months have been challenging ones, not only personally but for the world. How do you make it through difficult times and come out on top of things instead of under a trash heap. I have been through many difficult times in my life as I’m sure most people can relate to. But these times seem particularly trying in that there are so many other people struggling as well. It seems so universal in its scope.

But this is not totally new; it is just that we haven’t seen things this hard for quite some time. But our ancestors and maybe even our parents or grandparents remember when things were not rosy and everyone had to pull together in order to survive. What is different now is that it seems our sense of separation and competition has grown. We don’t have the sense of community that we once did. Perhaps that's what this is partly about, perhaps we need to remember that we are all connected, that we are all one, and that we all have to work together to make it through this.

We have grown into a society that prizes the individual. We talk about our personal exploits and accomplishments. A getting ahead-being number one-you deserve it-mentality pervades our culture. We look at Wall Street and are astonished at the greed and corruption, but it doesn’t take too much of a glance in the mirror to realize that we all suffer from materialism, egoism, and consumerism.

This is not a sermon, it is a confession—I have too much. We are currently experiencing an ‘economic downturn’ and are selling our home. Not one home, mind you, but two. One, of course, is very small and is dedicated to spiritual ministry, but nonetheless it costs money to keep it up. After losing one of our major sources of income, we have come to the conclusion that downsizing is an idea whose time has come.

Now, please don’t feel sorry for me. Sympathy is one of the greatest means to locking someone into a victim status. What we all need during times of economic readjustment is encouragement that we can do it. Yes, we can. We can do with less. We have the inner spiritual resources to depend more upon Source and less upon our stuff.

I’m taking this opportunity to focus on becoming debt-free versus encumbered. What an opportunity! In fact, we all have an opportunity to learn to do life in a new and different way. In America we have more wealth and possibility than just about anywhere else in the world and yet I hear more whining and complaining and a victim’s attitude than just about anywhere else.

When are we going to get off our collective pity pot and make the adjustments necessary to live a Spirit-filled, meaningful life? I’m hoping that my current difficulties will propel me in that direction. I’m hoping the same thing for you as well.

So, for me, the tools to surviving difficult times are simple and are as follows:

1. Make time for a spiritual practice of some kind every day—no exception.
2. Practice gratitude for all of the blessings that cross my path each day.
3. Do something for someone else daily.
4. Give something away to someone in need every week.
5. Do with less. Less is more.
6. Embrace change.
7. Identify with my higher self, not my material self, ego self, or status self.
8. Sing, dance, and laugh.
9. Spend time in nature.
10. Remember why I am here.

May we each be blessed as we learn to walk a new path.

Broken Shells

2009-06-13T08:21:00.001-07:00

Walking along the beach are the remnants of broken shells. I walk, head bent downward, looking for the perfect shell. But I am drawn towards the colors and patterns, the bits and pieces of shells that have broken apart. So, like my life, I muse.

I return home with a collection of broken pieces, ready to put them into a type of soul collage. One of the things I have finally learned to understand and to actually cherish are the broken pieces in my life—the imperfect shells, the bits and pieces of life’s lessons that make up my life.

Have you ever walked into a store that has shelves lined with shells—all cleaned up and polished—sitting neatly in a row? Funny, but I have never purchased any of these. They just don’t seem real. Sometimes I even find myself wondering if they even came from the ocean.

What I do cherish is the clear, glass vase filled with remnants of shells that I have collected in my walks along the beach. They sit by my bath where I can study the beauty, charm, and tapestry of color that they create when placed together. So I have learned to cherish the bits and pieces, the collection of experiences that have created the beauty of my life.

What I once viewed as broken and marred, I can now see as a part of a greater masterpiece—each thing, each life experience necessary. Every shell a lesson. Every broken piece an important part of breaking me open to a greater reality creating a larger picture of my life.

What shells do we place around are hearts that must break before we open up? What needs to crack open, what rigid structures need to loosen so that we can see who we really are? We hold so many misconceptions and untruths about ourselves. Being broken open is so necessary for us to live an expanded life.

What concepts of God do we hold that limit what we are able to receive? What outdated messages about whom God is and what God’s intentions for our lives are? Without experiences that shatter our preconceived ideas about ourselves, about others, and about God, we remained trapped and unable to grow and change.

What we need is a new paradigm about life. Rather than idealizing the perfect and the polished, we need to embrace life’s experiences and learn to see beauty in a new way. Perhaps true beauty lies in the collective strands of what we have once viewed as failures. What if we were to see our mistakes and hard lessons as the treasures of our life—as the building blocks to authenticity and wisdom?

Wisdom is the feminine aspect of the Divine and She is found by walking the pathway of life. When we open our eyes we begin to realize that She lies along the beaches in the fragments of shells that represent the myriad experiences of humanity as they shed old ways of being, allowing themselves to be broken apart in order to be reborn into something new.

Healing Separation

2009-05-16T10:12:00.001-07:00

It seems that one of the roadblocks we continually face on the spiritual path is judgment—judgment towards others and judgment towards ourselves. Have you ever stopped yourself in the middle of a condemning statement just in time to realize that you were right in the middle of judgment?

At the root of judgment is our sense that we are separate. You are out there (object) and I am in here (subject). We not only experience separation with others, we can experience separation within ourselves. For instance, we objectify certain characteristics within ourselves that we find objectionable. Whenever they surface in our lives we pass judgment on them.

You can catch yourself doing this whenever you say something nasty to yourself like, “What an idiot you are!” or “That was stupid!”. We can also catch ourselves in judgment towards others when we say the exact same things! When someone cuts us off on the freeway we can be quick to say, “What an idiot!”.

What if we were to meet judgment at the source of the problem, by looking at separation and our tendency to objectify that which we find uncomfortable to look at? If we were to embrace everything as being a part of ourselves we would remove things from being ‘out there’ to putting them ‘in here’. This would make every thing become one thing.

Whenever we see something in others, it is also in us. This is a hard truth to swallow. We have been raised to see ourselves in comparison to others and to rate our worth on how we measure up in comparison to others. Just remember for a moment those star charts in elementary school and you can realize how early on this tendency towards seeing ourselves as separate from one another started. Of course, it started even earlier than that.

Perhaps we could start integrating all of this disparity and separation by practicing a simple mantra. It goes like this: “I am that also.” The force behind all healing is the power of love. If I am able to draw into myself and embrace that which I find objectionable and love it, I am able to heal it.

For example, when I see a quality or behavior in someone else that I find unkind or un-thoughtful or objectionable in any way, I can first respond by saying, “I am that also.” I can then hold this in my heart and ask that love be there to embrace this quality as I find it in need of healing in myself as well.

We all exist with everything inside us—the good the bad, the positive and the negative. Both polarities of every quality have the ability to manifest within us. What I choose to manifest and what I choose to remain un-manifest is a matter of consciousness. The more aware I am of my choices the more control I have over what shows up in my life.

If I am able to embrace the negative polarity, I can transmute those qualities that I dislike through the power of love. The indwelling Christ power and the presence of the Spirit within me can become a powerful source of transformation. By identifying with the negative polarity and saying, “I am that also”, I am able to hold these qualities in the light of transforming power and transmute them into the positive qualities that I want to see in my life and in the world. This releases me from the negative cycle of perpetual judgment and brings me into alignment with the power of One.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T08:08:00.001-07:00

Mother Earth

Mother, just wanted to take a few moments to express my appreciation for all that you’ve done. You have sustained my life everyday for as long as I can remember. Even when I have completely neglected you or not given you a thought you have been there for me, full of selfless love and support, providing all my meals, shelter, and clothing.

I don’t know of anyone else that would have hung in there for me like you have. At times I have paid careful attention to how I treated you and at other times I have paid no attention at all. You must really wonder how I feel at times! I know it’s been almost 50 years and I’m just starting to understand, but that’s one of the things that I have learned from you, is tolerance and patience.

I wonder what it must be like for you on a day like this, being the mother of so many. You’ll probably have so many cards that you’ll have to sacrifice a whole forest just producing them! Hopefully, they will all be recycled ones. It would be kind of an insult to ask you to sacrifice even more on your special day. But then, I’m sure you’re probably used to it, making sacrifices of yourself so that we can do whatever we want.

Lately, though, I’m sensing a change in attitude from you. You don’t seem as happy as you once were. I’m starting to think that maybe you are not well. In fact, in places, you are not looking so great! I mean, I don’t want to insult you, but frankly, parts of you are looking downright diseased!

I know, I know, perhaps spending your rain forests like there was no tomorrow was probably not the great idea we thought it was, but you know we’re trying to come up with some new bio-fuels, and it seemed like a great idea! Sorry that you’re looking so much worse for the wear. But we know how forgiving you are, so we hope you won’t hold this against us.

Anyway, I don’t want to go into all of this right now anyway, it being Mother’s Day and all. I just wanted to let you know that I really do care. There’s no point in dredging up all the garbage in our relationship! Let’s just focus on the positive part, OK? You know, we have to get along together for quite some time. At least until I don’t need you anymore.

Children? You are asking about my children and grandchildren? Oh, right. Yes, they might still need you also. Have to give that one some thought. But, like I said, just wanting to wish you a Happy Mother’s Day, so don’t start getting all sentimental on me. Just know that you are loved, and that’s what counts! Right? Oh, come one, now you’re getting all teary-eyed on me. You know how I hate that. Just smile for your picture.

Thank You

2009-05-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

I was blessed with a lovely blogger award from Jan Lundy at Awake is Good. Thank you Jan for your thoughtful comments and all of the lovely ways that you are serving in the world!

Creating Harmony

2009-05-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

"Harmony" from Jim Wanless Voyager

I have been thinking a lot lately about harmony. As a musician, what first comes to mind when the word harmony is mentioned is the idea of notes that sound well together. We think of musical masterpieces that have beautiful harmony. There is the harmony of a barbershop quartet, or the harmony of a Mozart string quartet. This is one familiar notion of harmony.

But there is another type of harmony that comes to mind and that is the harmony between opposites. This would be the idea of harmony between the masculine and feminine, the light and the dark, good and evil, consonance and dissonance, etc. In order for there to be a harmony between opposites, they must be balanced. In other words, one must not be stronger than the other. When they are in balance there is harmony.

Take the human brain, for example. The right side of the brain is usually considered the creative, intuitive, feminine side of the brain. The left side of the brain is the logical, mathematical, and masculine side of the brain. We ideally are using both sides of our brain! When we can use them both effectively and efficiently, we create harmony within ourselves.

This balancing act is not as simple as it sounds. It would be interesting to consider that perhaps much of the disharmony we create in our lives is from being out of balance in the way that we think and use our brains. Our educational system is a good example of this. We currently use a very left-brained approach to education. Although there are some trends to also use creative, kinesthetic methods of instruction, we still, by far, favor the linear, didactic approach to instruction.

The shortfalls in this can be seen in the number of students that fail to thrive in our current educational system. If a child cannot learn to read according to our statistical charts and normative data, we label them as learning disabled and literally sentence them to a life of academic challenges. If, on the other hand, we would utilize a balance of creative and logical approaches in education, we would see the giftedness in every student.

Our religious system is yet another example. Currently, most of the world’s religions favor a patriarchal system that favors the masculine, left-brained approach to knowing God. As a result, we have a very strong bias towards doing and achieving versus the more feminine approach of receptivity and creativity. We could create much more harmony in religion by opening to the right-brained, intuitive, feminine side of knowing God.

On a personal level, we struggle to maintain a balancing of the masculine and feminine sides of the brain. The right side is our listening ability or lunar side. The left side is our acting, doing or solar side. To be in balanced relationship with others we must be able to switch back and forth with ease from one side of the brain to the other. To ascertain how well your brain is balanced you can ask yourself how well you actually listen to others. Too often we are busy formulating a response instead of listening. This creates a disharmony in relationships!

To bring it to a spiritual level, we must be able to listen to our higher self, our soul and spirit to receive direction from Source. If we are unable to listen and be receptive we will be acting from the level of our personality and ego. To be in harmony means that we can remain open and receptive to the prompting of the Spirit and at the same time act in accordance to what the Spirit guides us to do

A Time of Healing

2009-04-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

"Jesus, A Great Healer"

The last couple of weeks I have been recovering from surgery. As a result, I have a lot of quiet time. Going through surgery has never been a fun adventure, but it is often a necessary one for many of us. This has given me the opportunity to focus on the theme of healing.

What does healing mean to you? Is healing the removal of discomforting symptoms? Is it merely physical or is there a greater level of healing and perhaps awareness that is available to us? A good definition for me at this point is that healing is coming into a greater state of health.

When I think of health, several different types of wellness come to mind. There is physical health, emotional health, mental health, and spiritual health. You could almost think of this as having different types of bodies—a physical body, an emotional body, a mental body, and a spiritual body, (sometimes called soul).

So, what type of condition are all of your different bodies in and where does disease come from? Very often, disease in the physical body begins in one of the other bodies. Think of times when you have experienced long bouts of emotional stress in your life. I recall at times in my life thinking that if the stress didn’t let up, I was going to develop some type of disease. Indeed, there are many who believe that cancer is strongly correlated to the high stress levels that we currently live with.

Our thoughts and beliefs sometimes cause disorder and distress that eventually wind up affecting our physical body. This is kind of like a trickle down effect. What happens in one body affects every other body. So, it is a good idea to pay attention to what kind of health we are experiencing on every level.

If our emotions are a wreck, you can be certain your health will be affected. If you don’t have peace of mind, a good night’s sleep is pretty hard to come by! If you are disconnected from a spiritual connection to God, you will not experience the vitality that you might otherwise enjoy.

Many factors come into play regarding our health—genetics, past choices, and current life style. Usually by the time disease descends into the physical body, we are left with making choices to help mitigate the results.

The good news, however, is that it is never too late to come into a greater state of well-being. Even if we find that our physical body is not going to last for much longer, we can strengthen our connection with our Creator and find a greater sense of joy and wholeness. Sometimes it is only after we have lost our health that we will open our hearts to a sense of God’s love and wisdom.

For me, all types of healing begin with surrendering to a sense of higher purpose in my life. When I don’t fight against my illness, but rather use it as a teacher to help me learn to come into greater harmony with my life and God, then the disease or physical, emotional, or mental stress helps to give me clarity on where my life may be out of balance and where I need to make needed corrections to make my life more symmetrical and harmonious.

Sometimes the chickens don’t come home to roost for many years. When they do we can get caught up in the drama of wishing that life could be easier. By learning to be in relationship with ourselves and our health in a less combative way we can learn how to cooperate with the laws of good health and help mitigate some of the genetic and lifestyle choices that have descended on us.

Creating Sacred Space--Create A Personal Mythology

2009-04-09T21:41:00.001-07:00

"What Do You Dream Of?"

(Note: This is the fourth in a series on creating sacred space.)

Part of creating sacred space involves creating a personal mythology. A personal mythology is a type of personal narrative that when combined with your spiritual practice can help you to understand your unique contributions to the world. By doing this you can begin to understand your own soul covenant.

Briefly, a soul covenant is about answering the questions to why you are here and whom you are here to serve and in what manner. Personal myth making helps to add dimension to your spiritual practice in addition to adding meaning and clarity to your spiritual path.

So what would a personal mythology look like and how might you begin to create one as a part of your sacred space? One way to begin is to start collecting artifacts, pictures, mementos, etc, of those things that you resonant with or persons that you have a strong attraction to. These could be rocks, crystals, shells, things from sacred sites that you have visited, pictures of places you are attracted to, saints, mythological characters, people in your family tree—basically anything or anyone that sparks something inside you and creates resonance.

You can also begin by looking around at what you currently have as collections or pictures. Is there a theme? Do you love things from Ireland? Do you have dozens of calendars from Scotland or the South of France? Do you have a collection of King Arthur lore? You get the idea. Look for areas that you have always been interested in and see how they might relate to your life and your personal callings.

A deep resonance with someone or something indicates that you have similar interests and gifts. By exploring your ancestry and the lives of those who have inspired you, you begin to identify archetypal patterns in your life. In doing this you begin to awaken your own spiritual DNA. This then awakens latent soul gifts waiting to be called into service in your own life.

Your personal mythology should grow and deepen every year. By expressing an interest towards a particular area or gift, you attract those very qualities and gifts and they begin moving towards you. Synergy and synchronous events increase and your soul unfoldment is accelerated. Creating a personal mythology is like constructing a vehicle for your ministry in the world. You build it out and it assists you in your work by helping you develop the gifts and abilities that you need.

Creating Sacred Space-3

2009-04-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

Create A Writing Practice

(Note: This is the third in an ongoing series. Scroll down to view the first two posts.)

Another way to create sacred space in your life is through writing. By opening yourself up to Spirit and creating an inner temple you invite God to be with you and speak to you. This results in a process of inspiration. You are inspired with thoughts from the Divine. Your angel can talk to you in this state of quietness and so can the Spirit. Writing is a wonderful way to put to use the inspiration you receive during meditation. This creates a path of expression.

The whole point of creating sacred space in our lives is to bring God down to earth. As we are inspired we then need to express that inspiration. One should always lead to another. Inspiration should lead to expression.

This is reflected in the natural process of breathing that we go through thousands of times a day. In fact, one of the mantras that I sometimes use during meditation is to say, “Spirit in” on the inspiration and “Spirit out” on the expiration. When you are able to be a constant vehicle for Spirit you can say that you are en-spirited.

To use writing as a part of your spiritual practice is to develop your expressive abilities and will make you a mouth piece for God. It keeps the flow of Spirit moving through your life. Think of a river and how it streams down from the top of the mountain, watering plants and animals as it goes and eventually emptying out into the ocean to then cycle back as rain and begin the process all over again. Our lives should be like the river, a vehicle for the refreshment of Spirit to nurture all that we come in contact with.

As your expressive abilities grow, it opens up speaking abilities. In this way, your service in the world grows and the inspiration you receive from Source becomes an inspiration and encouragement to others, as you are able to share with them about the goodness and abundance in the universe. Your words hold power because you are filled with this power from personal experience. So in this way, the sacred space you create in your life becomes pervasive and you begin to have a healing presence and power in the world.

Writing is far more than jotting down a few thoughts. When dedicated as part of your sacred space, writing is a spiritual practice that empowers your ministry.

Creating Sacred Space-2

2009-03-28T22:04:00.001-07:00

"Tigger, Enjoying Sacred Space"

(Note: This is the second in an ongoing series. To read the first one, scroll down to the next post.)

Creating sacred space begins by awakening to the Divine in your life. Waking up to the idea of inviting God to live within you opens up the sacred in your life like nothing else can. The next step in creating sacred space is by creating space in your home environment and if you are able to--creating sacred space at work.

I like to have some type of altar. This is a place to hold sacred objects—a place that is set aside to remind me of my inner altar or sanctuary. What you place on your altar is as personal as the space in which you meet your Creator. It could include things that remind you of your connection to God like a picture, the Bible, another sacred book, or perhaps a seashell.

On my altar at home I have an angel sculpture, some stones, a beautiful heart, a couple of journals, a picture or two and a silk cloth that I painted. Another altar that I have at my private office is quite different.

The fact that you are creating a place in your home that holds space for your relationship with God is not as important as what you place on your altar. It is nice to have a chair beside it where you can spend time reading, praying, journaling, and meditating.

There are many ways to have an altar in your home without having a lot of space. You could create an altar in a small box that you keep by a chair. You could create an altar in a cupboard or closet. I have a beautiful altar in a walk-in closet. You could create sacred space in the form of a small altar at work in a desk drawer or locker or even a photograph on your desk.

You could create sacred space in the corner of a room or have a whole room devoted to sacred space. We have a small house that was originally purchased as an office for my husband’s business that we have converted to use as sacred space called The Tree of Life Center. The yard is a meditation garden.

The importance of sacred space is that it holds energy. When I walk into The Tree of Life Center, I can immediately feel the difference of the energy there. It holds the intention of what we are trying to do. It has healing, potentiating qualities in it. Because of this, we can more easily accomplish sacred work there.

It is important that an environment help you achieve your goals. When doing sacred work, it is even more important that you have a space that holds the energy of what you are doing. By using the same space over and over, it will help you to move more quickly away from distractions and focus your attention on the Divine.

It is only when we are able to shut out distractions and become quiet that we can hear that still small voice of Spirit that leads and guides us. Sacred space should do just that—helps us to hear more clearly and see more vividly God’s intention for our lives.

Creating Sacred Space-1

2009-03-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

(Note: This will be the first in a series of posts.)

Think of all the spaces you occupy during the course of the day. You have work spaces, eating spaces, dressing and bathing spaces, relaxing spaces, exercising spaces, and hopefully, sacred spaces. Too often we have time for everything but the sacred. It is tempting to think that we will just squeeze in the time for the sacred now and then.

More than ever before, however, we need time for the sacred. I’m going to be sharing a few ideas about ‘creating sacred space’. I would suggest that the first way that we create sacred space is through the use of our time. We need to create space for the sacred in our daily calendar.

The word ‘sacred’ simply means to set something aside or devote to Source. This could be time that is dedicated to deepening your connection with the divine in you. Our very physical bodies can become a sacred space for Spirit to meet in us.

This expands the idea that many have that sacred space is a location, perhaps a church or a sacred site and suggests that we create sacred space by setting aside time and creating an opening by inviting the Spirit to meet with us.

The first sacred space that you can create then is an inner temple. You build this out with your imagination. Where would you like to meet your guides, Source, the Spirit? You could meet in a crystal cathedral, a pastoral setting, a paneled library, a mountaintop—wherever you feel a sense of the sacred and that is meaningful to you.

By using your imagination, you fill in the details of your sacred space. It is here you can go in meditation to invite the presence of the Divine to meet with you. By doing this on a regular basis you create sacred space within yourself that is real and tangible. You can quickly go there during the day to find guidance and refreshment.

Of all the spaces you occupy and create in your life, this is the most powerful one and holds the most potential for radical transformation. When combined with setting aside time in your calendar and occupying it regularly you will find you are living a Spirit-filled life.

All of the other sacred spaces that you build in your life can enhance this first space, but never replace it. It is foundational. Funny, but we usually get this backwards, spending years attending church or looking for God somewhere outside of us. All along, God wants to meet us right where we are.

When it comes to creating sacred space, the first step is to begin where you are.

Keeping Your Balance in an Upside Down World

2009-03-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

"Perfect Symmetry"

I have been on a life-long quest for balance. How about you? It seems that the world we live in creates imbalance. Especially right now. To have balance we must consciously create it in our lives. Have you ever noticed that the minute you think you’ve achieved balance that something creeps in to upset that momentary state of bliss?

How would you define balance? Is it the perfect state of being or perhaps being able to manage your to-do list and still have time to relax? For me, balance is about being in right relationship with myself and with the world.

I become more balanced through spiritual practice—especially the practice of meditation. Meditation helps to quiet the mind and emotions and bring the body back into alignment or balance. It is like taking time to pick up the scattered pieces that inevitably get spread around during the day.

By sitting still, going within, inviting God’s Spirit to put me back together and focus my energies, I find that I create an inner balance. This inner balance begins to change my interactions in the world and I start create more balance in my life.

If you neglect your quiet time, you will find that it is more difficult to keep your life in balance. It naturally turns into overdoing and over-committing. Emotionally this is just as important. In the roller coaster times we are living in, it is essential to be balanced emotionally or you will get sucked into the fear and negativity that is circulating in our world right now.

Many of my friends are glued to the news. This pulls them into an emotional imbalance that is difficult to shake. Just as we maintain personal hygiene, it is important to maintain spiritual, mental, and emotional hygiene. If you do not want to be contaminated with fear, you must make choices about how much you will expose yourself to those energies.

We are in charge of what we allow into our lives far more than we realize. We are currently experiencing the effects of being a part of a group that has made some poor choices. As a result, we are part of this collective experience. How we respond to it, however, is a matter of personal choice.

To counteract the negative right now we can make sure that personally we are staying on the positive side of things. Reaching out to help others and trying to make a positive difference in our world is the other piece of creating balance in difficult times.

We cannot be a positive agent for change in the world if we are depressed and fearful ourselves. Regular spiritual practice that includes service to others is a great antidote for fear and depression. It helps to create balance in our lives and get us through some difficult times. I love the statement by Gandhi, “Be the change…”

Gratitude is The Gateway To Growth

2009-03-11T09:13:00.001-07:00

"Cherish the Simple Things in Life"

Gratitude is the gateway to growth. Gratitude opens the doors to new opportunities. Being thankful is for more than just one day a year. In order to receive we have to have an awareness and appreciation for what we’ve been given. Too often we look at the shortfall in life instead of the windfall that all of us constantly receive from life.

Don’t think you’ve had a windfall of good fortune lately? What about your breath? Having you been breathing lately? Is your heart beating? Are you still conscious? There is so much that we take for granted. Unfortunately, it is not until we lose something that we notice how blessed we were before.

I broke my leg a few years ago falling from a ladder. I was extremely grateful that I didn’t break my back or neck or kill myself. But I really missed walking on my leg even though it would eventually heal. Just think of the many people that lose numerous limbs serving their country or in accidents all the time. Can you still have a life filled with gratitude even in the midst of loss?

That all depends on the choice you make. We are all familiar with the analogy of people who see the glass half full or the others who see the same glass as half empty. Same circumstances—different perception. Choosing gratitude opens the door to receive many other good things in life.

When I broke my leg, there were times when all I could do was worry and fret over that leg and wonder if I would ever walk normal again. At one point, I realized that regardless of the outcome I had to decide to be grateful that I was progressing as fast as I was able and let go of the rest. I also realized that there were many who faced these choices all the time, with much worse injuries, and went on to be happy, productive, joy-filled people.

What is it about our nature that compels us to be grateful or become bitter? It seems that we have only two choices to make in that regard. Observing the results of gratitude in other people’s lives should inspire us to make the choice for gratitude. When we choose to be grateful we grow past our current problem. We surpass it and it ceases to have power in our lives any more.

We assign meaning to the events in our lives. If we believe something to be tragic and terrible and that it will destroy our lives, we become a self-fulfilling prophet. It doesn’t mean that tragedies don’t happen in this world, it means that our response to them will dictate whether or not we stay trapped in the emotional carnage of that tragedy or whether we transcend it. We can only transcend tragedies by embracing all that we are grateful for and reaching out to Source for a deeper meaning for the events of our lives.

Gratitude has a healing, transcending quality to it. It is a balm that soothes over much of the pain in life. Apply it liberally to any difficulty in your life and see if things don’t feel better soon.

Looking for Hope

2009-02-26T07:18:00.000-08:00

"A Promise of Hope"

It has snowed this morning. We have been enjoying signs of Spring and rising temperatures, but Winter has returned. It is not a lot of snow, but a reminder that it is still February. It seems that every year about this time we get a bit of early Spring and every year I fall for it thinking that the cold weather and gray days are over. Wrong!

This year it seems that folks are anxious to see the sun shining and the world happy. We take good times for granted when we are in the midst of them and seldom stop to think that things could be any different. And then a cold spell hits in our lives and it feels as if the gloom will hang over us forever. It seems a cold spell has hit our nation and world right now and people are ready for sunnier times.

How do you handle difficult times? The true test of our character doesn’t come when things are running along smoothly, it comes when things begin to get difficult. How quickly does your faith start to deteriorate into complaining and feeling abandoned by God? It might be helpful if we all had a little meter hanging around our necks that sounded an alarm when we started moaning of worrying. We might be surprised by our own thoughts and actions.

It seems that human nature tends towards complaining. I don’t know why we do this. We just seem to be easily annoyed and put out. We are unhappy if we have to wait in line. We get testy if our food is cold. We take the weather as a personal affront. If someone cuts us off on the freeway we can be ready to verbally, if not literally, take their heads off! And this is in the good times!

For me, there are two antidotes to gloom that I find helpful and that is to practice gratitude and compassion. When I begin to feel negative it can easily spiral downward rather quickly, gaining momentum as it goes. By stopping my thoughts and contemplating what I am most grateful for and by focusing on the positive, the negative loses its foothold and my mood immediately begins to improve.

When I find others around me struggling to act like decent human beings, looking at them through the lens of compassion makes all the difference. Perhaps they were up all night with a sick child. Or maybe a spouse just lost a job. They could be tending a sick parent and totally worn out. Sometimes people are prisoners in their own lives to addiction or mental illness or a list of difficult struggles that we could never imagine.

By viewing others with compassion I am offering the space for them to step into. By not reacting badly to their bad behavior I present another option for them. This provides a space of unconditional love that can be the one thing that gives them hope to keep on going. Isn’t that what I need when I’m having a difficult day? Understanding and compassion?

As we move through some trying times, perhaps we can remember to hold gratitude in our hearts for everything that we are thankful for. At the same time we can reach out with compassion to our fellow travelers. This will make a difficult time far easier for everyone. One person can make all the difference. Let that person be you.

Possibility Is Waiting To Be Born

2009-02-16T18:58:00.000-08:00

image by Deborah Koff-Chapin

Have you ever felt that you were pregnant with possibility? Whether you are male or female there are times in life when something is growing inside of you. Maybe it is the excitement of an idea or perhaps it is a sense of an emerging talent. Sometimes we don’t even know what is going on but there is an inner sense of excitement about the future.

There can also be a sense of insecurity and doubt. We are ready to move forward but unsure of where that is or where it will take us. Life is never stagnant. Unless you have stopped breathing on this earth, you are in for change. Change no matter how much we may be ready for it or not matter how much we resist it is a constant. The one thing you can plan on is that the world changes. And we change along with it.

Right now our planet is changing. Have you noticed the different things that are in the air? Fear and excitement both hover as possibilities. The question becomes, “Which one will you focus on?” I am reminded of a Charles Dickens’ quote from “A Tale of Two Cities”. It begins, “It was the best of all times and the worst of all times.” This is true of the times we live in. There has never existed so much potential for change or such potential for disaster.

What do you choose to focus on? What might you bring to the world at this time? What you are pregnant with might just have to do with how you were meant to serve in the world. The world is hungry to hear a message of hope and redemption. Too often we think that to bring something of meaning to the world that we must give a Bible Study or outline a careful theological treatise on salvation or convert someone to our way of thinking.

The need, however, is far simpler than that. What is really needed is for each one of us to show up in the world with the gifts that God has given us and to serve right where we are. Do you have a gift for hospitality? Who do you know that might benefit from your gifts? Do you have a gift for helping? How might you volunteer to help? Do you have a gift for building? How might your talents be used to serve? Do you have a gift for knitting? Who do you know that might need a warm blanket.

Service and ministry are never as complicated as we make them. It is simply about showing up and sharing the gifts that God has given us and allowing these gifts to help those right around us. We don’t have to go across the world or contribute a million dollars, we just need to do what we can, where we can, when we can.

So that exciting sense of possibility might just be about a new way of serving in the world and bringing comfort, hope, and healing to those around you. It is an exciting possibility that may be accompanied by a few birthing pains. But as any good birthing coach will tell you, “Remember to breathe”. Wonderful things are about to happen.

Repose--Resting Into Peace

2009-02-08T08:20:00.001-08:00

"In Repose"

Recently we were driving along the Columbia River. It is an amazing river—so unlike the rivers that I grew up near in Colorado. The Columbia is the kind of river that songs are written about. —Like Shenandoah—the kind of river one falls in love with and longs to return to. It is wide and beautiful cutting a large swath through the countryside as it meanders to the ocean.

There are places along the river where it is often windy and so the water is frequently choppy. It makes it a great place for windsurfers and sailors. It was twilight as we were making our way west towards home. Passing an inlet we saw the most beautiful reflection of the pinks and dark blues that were fading into the night sky.

My husband remarked about the stillness of the water and how that in the many years that he had lived in the Northwest he had seldom seen the water so still that it reflected so perfectly. The beauty was exquisite.

How like us, I mused. We are seldom still long enough to perfectly reflect Spirit. We are usually trying too hard or running too fast. But when we become still, ah, then the perfect opportunity to reflect opens before us. We are like a photographic plate in this instance, creating a clear reflection of light, mirroring the pattern that God wants to shine to the world.

This captures the idea of repose. It is the temporary cessation of activity, a rest into peace. The idea captures the essence of the feminine principle. It is when we can put ourselves in this frame of mind that we are best able to reflect. And in the reflecting we get a picture, an image, of what God has in mind for us.

Who would have thought that the road to self-understanding and even to enlightenment was to become still. Our greatest life answers are not found, they are seen and sensed in the quietness. Not only do we see God’s picture for our life reflected in the stillness, we can also sense how we can best be of service to others, not by speaking, but by listening.

Of course there is a time to do, a time to speak, and a time for action. But these are best preceded by times of stillness and repose. Next time you don’t know what to do, you have forgotten who you are, and are overwhelmed, try a little repose. In our busy world, we all need to learn this beautiful art of resting into peace.

Repose, anyone?

In-Between

2009-02-04T11:02:00.000-08:00

Perched on a tree limb, alone.
A single bird. Watching. Listening.
Fluttering leaf, Wisp of sunshine. Sound of small branch falling.

Feathers, ruffle in the breeze.
Eyes--half-closed, closing.
Dreaming, perhaps. Wondering.

Overhead, the sound of a jet. In the distance, a mother calls.
The sound of a door closing. A motor starts.
Life hums along.

Perched on a tree limb, alone.
A single bird. Resting. In-between.
Waiting to take flight once again.

Faith Is Greater Than Fear

2009-01-31T10:41:00.000-08:00

"One Day At A Time"

Over the last several months I have experienced a lot of neck pain and spasms. In typical fashion, I have ignored them and continued on. Two weeks ago, the neck pain turned into increasing arm pain and numbness in my hand. Well even I know when enough is enough. I am now two days post-op and can once again write without pain and discomfort. Praise be!

Injury or illness always tests our intentions regarding faith versus fear. For me, trust revolves around my relationship with Source and how my life is unfolding. It is not about blindly trusting others, or the church, or those types of issues outside of yourself. It is about trusting that what happens in your life can work together for the greater good.

There is always a tipping point when something happens in our lives, whether it is relational or an incident at work, or perhaps a health issue, where we make a choice about how we are going to respond to it. Fear is a conditioned response. What you want to learn is to have a conditioned response of trust with the process of life. In other words, whatever comes up in your life you have to learn a new way of responding to the unknown. The known way is to be fearful. The new way is one of trusting Source that you will move through whatever difficulty in the appropriate way.

Ultimately I think it is a matter of conscious awareness that you are moving into fear and you catch yourself and say, "Hey, wait a minute, I think I'm just going to trust God on this one and not go into panic mode." The other thing is to remember to ask for help. There is ample help available when we wake up enough to want to head a new direction. We probably won't make it on our own initially, but we are helped through tough situations by Spirit and our guides. Eventually it becomes our practice to trust.

In the past when I have experienced these medical emergencies, I have gone into fear. This time, because of all of those other experiences with working my way out of fear into trust--I just decided that I would picture a successful outcome and proceed without all of the drama and tears.

"Miraculously" I found a wonderful neurosurgeon who did a cervical disk replacement two days ago and resolved the issue, all of this taking place in less than two weeks. It could have lasted longer--which the other issues have, but this time I just refused to entertain fear or self pity and things resolved much quicker.

I know that God has a plan for my life that I can trust in spite of difficulties and hurdles that come along. Grace is always sufficient. I am part of a larger plan. I can trust that what comes my way can be overcome and will work towards fulfilling God's intention for my life.

I hope that something I have said here might be helpful in facing the difficulties that you might be experiencing. We all have these difficult issues to work through and continue to learn to trust in the abundance of God’s goodness. May whatever challenge you are facing today lead you into a greater understanding of God’s purpose for your life and may you feel guided and supported as you journey through difficult times.

You Are A Spark

2009-01-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

"What Did God Have In Mind When God Created You?"

What did God have in mind when God created you? If we could understand the answer to this question and live that answer out in our lives, then we would understand what the concept of redemption is really all about.

Do you realize that most of us live and die without knowing the answer to this question? We live our lives as a personality. I am a writer. I am a mother. I am a musician. We define ourselves by our work or by what we do. We then identify with our personality traits. I am outgoing or I am shy. I am talkative or I am quiet. None of these things tells us what God had in mind when God made us.

God creates by thought and intention so another way of saying this is that you are a thought in the mind of God. When God creates a spark or a piece of pure consciousness splits off from God to enliven God’s creation. It is a little piece of spirit that enlivens all of God’s creation. I think of it as “the breath of life”. When God’s breath or spirit or spark unites with matter, the matter becomes alive.

As a human being, God’s spark or intention for my life was attached to an archetypal pattern we call soul, which then attached to a human body through the vehicle of my parents. God’s spirit made me a living soul. My parents gave me a human body.

As we grow, we develop a sense of self, but it a self that reflects our surroundings, our inherited DNA, and our life experiences. Because we were born on a fallen planet, we are cut off from our understanding of our spirit/God’s intention and our soul/archetypal pattern. Redemption is really about connecting us back to God in such a way that we understand who we are so that we can be in relationship with God as our Creator and designer.

The spiritual path is about finding our way to back to God. The personality and ego create many obstructions that prevent us from seeing God clearly. As a result, we do not understand ourselves, we rarely understand others or see God’s intentions for their lives, and we misunderstand God and our relationship with the universe and what we are here to do.

Spiritual practice—meditation, prayer, the study of sacred scriptures, and reaching out in service to others—all help us to clear the obscurations and obstructions that block our view of God’s intention for our lives. It helps us to see where we fit into the bigger picture and it helps us to do the work we are here to do. We can then transcend the concerns of the ego and personality and begin to live out the higher intentions for our life.

Much of what we struggle with in this life is the overcoming of many of our defenses. We struggle with insecurities or conceits. We struggle to maintain a state of serenity bouncing up and down on an emotional roller coaster. We are elated with praise and defeated by criticism.

The beauty of understanding God’s plan for our life is that it allows us to live out our purpose in a new way. When Christ lives within—when the power of God’s Spirit is connected with our spirit/soul—we are enlivened and empowered to be in the world in a new and different way.

These ideas motivate me to persist in connecting with the Spirit every day. I want to understand God’s intention for my life. In addition, I want to grow my capacity for seeing the divine spark in others as well. Imagine a world where we could see that we are each one a precious child of God. Mmmm…that is a world I would like to live in.

Finding Your Authentic Voice

2009-01-13T11:01:00.000-08:00

"Speaking From the Depths of the Soul"

Do you ever write or journal and wonder if anyone is listening? Too often we feel that if we don’t have an “audience” that what we have to say is not worthwhile. But just the writing of authentic words from your soul changes not only you, but it makes a difference in the world, even if the words are not published. Speaking your authentic voice always creates change.

What is your authentic voice? To start with, it is genuine and uniquely yours. It is not the voice of someone you are trying to please or imitate. It is the voice of your soul. It is the voice of who you are as archetype—not as personality or ego.

For the most part, we only know ourselves as personality or ego. We are defined by our history, our family, our friends, our job, our social position, our gender, and on and on. And yet, who we are is not any of those things. If they were all stripped away from us as sometimes happens in accident, disasters, and difficult life events, it usually precipitates an identity crisis.

If you take all the trappings of your life away, what is left? This gives us a hint why the thought of death can be so terrifying because this is exactly what happens at death—we are left with only our essence. We take nothing with us. We meet God with nothing but our soul.

This is why finding our authentic voice is so important. I don’t want to live my whole life and never find out who I really am, why I am here, and what I have to contribute to the world that is unique.

Spiritual practice is a vital part of finding your authentic voice. Meditation provides the perfect feedback loop to listen to the voice of Spirit. The Spirit helps to awaken our soul, which lies in quiescence until it is called upon. In quiet we can begin to hear the whispers of our authentic voice.

Writing every day also provides a place for the soul to speak. Many people believe that they can’t write, but I believe we can all write. It is in writing that we help to awaken the soul. We invite its voice to speak to us and then we sit down and take the time to record the thoughts that want to come out.

At first your writing will look like your daily ‘to do’ list for that is usually all that we have ever given space for. It then might begin to look like your gripe list or your burdens and concerns list. It can look like a prayer list or personal therapy.

The secret is to hold no judgment towards your writing but to just keep on writing. In case you just missed it—here’s the secret—hold no judgment towards your writing! Eventually, over the course of weeks, months, and years, the voice of the soul starts to shine through.

It is worth every effort you make to find your authentic voice because it is one-of-a-kind and unique. You have a voice like no one else’s and it is your purpose in life to find it.

The universe misses out if you do not find your authentic voice! You have a ministry and a message like no one else. What is the world missing that you can fill? Keep writing until you find the answer! It is the journey of a lifetime, but worth every step. Keep going!

Write A Brand New Story

2009-01-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

"Begin Each Day Like It Was Your First"

The beginning of a New Year always reminds me of the start of a new school year. Remember buying a brand new writing tablet and box of crayons? Everything was fresh and new. Your desk at school was shiny and clean. The workbooks were crisp and unmarked. The floors gleamed with new wax and even the teacher looked rested for a change!

Every New Year presents itself with infinite possibilities. Actually, every day does also, but we tend to forget. The start of a New Year reminds us that we can begin again. The problem we all face is that we get bogged down with our own history. Our own biography can trap us into thinking and living in repetitive ways.

What if you were to wake up tomorrow morning and you had no personal story to tell? There were no bad memories, no self-limiting thoughts, no sorrow, no incessant worries and concerns, but you were able to awaken with a sense of endless possibility? Of course, you can see right off that you would also have no good memories, or a sense of all your accomplishments or the security of relationships that you love and cherish.

How much does our personal story control our lives? Does it help us down the road or does it hold us back? Are we trapped because of our biography or are we liberated? For the most part we get stuck in our own story and have a difficult time moving past some of its more painful segments. It too easily defines who we are.

The key to using our biography as a stepping stone into our future rather than a ball and chain that holds us back comes from the principle of acceptance. What we don’t accept holds us back. We must accept everything that happens in our lives as needful and view our past as divinely directed. Take out even one small piece and your life would crumble. You would not be you any longer.

This doesn’t mean that everything that happened to us was enjoyable and that there aren’t folks who have some answering to do for their actions, this just means that for our part we accept every event as working towards our betterment and we leave the justice and the judging to God.

This is a powerful tool that enables us to free ourselves from the negativity and even the successes of the past. Both the positive and the negative have the ability to either stroke or wound the ego. Either way, the ego remains in control of our lives.

What we are really hoping for on the spiritual path is to have the ego become a willing servant to Spirit. By dwelling on our past, by identifying too closely with our own history and biography, we feed its need to define who we are.

Ideally, our identification comes more and more from Spirit. We become soul-full and Spirit directed. By accepting our past we are free to pay little or no attention to it. It does not use up any of our vital energy. We are free to face each morning, each New Year as a fresh start.

Imagine that when you went to sleep last night, the story reader said, “The End”. You awaken this morning and are asked, “What new story would you like to write today?” Wow, just think of the possibilities. What kind of story are you going to write this year?

To Trust Or Not To Trust?

2009-01-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

"Looks Like A Leap of Faith to Me"

Trust is an important antidote to fear. Call it trust, faith, love, or whatever you like; it is the opposite energy of fear. At some time in any given situation there is a tipping point where one has to decide whether they are going to remain in fear or make the leap of faith and live in trust. Usually our problem is that we want to stay in fear and dabble in faith. They are two incompatible energies and ways of being in the world.

I remember a critical turning point in my life. I had experienced living in fear in a deep way through a controlling, hostile relationship. Even after I had the courage to leave the relationship, the fear remained. One day I was reading about fear and faith and it hit me like a truck full of bricks--you can't have them both--you have to choose between one or the other.

By looking at the opposite qualities of love you get a sense of how much fear robs you. It is impossible to live a life of abundance while entertaining fear. If we understand what it takes from us and what we cannot have if we hold onto it, we are more prepared to give it up.

Another area of exploration is understanding what we gain by living in fear. For me, to confront my fears would mean the end of my relationship and that would put me in the uncomfortable, socially unacceptable role in my community of divorced single mom. It was like trading one known fear for another unknown fear.

Until you can see that fear keeps you from the fullness of life, it has the secondary benefit of giving you a sense of false security. This translates to living situations, work situations, church situations, social situations, and relational situations. We will often live a life devoid of joy because we fear the consequences of making needful changes. We hang on to our known misery like a security blanket, cloaked in fear, and frozen in place.

It is never easy to speak about difficult times, and yet it is the journey into darkness and the subsequent journey into the light that gives hope that fear can be overcome and indeed it can. For me, this is what the life of Christ was all about--journeying into the depths of fear and overcoming and creating a path back to the ultimate state of love. It makes my success possible and any continued success I might have. He was the ultimate path maker in my thinking and for that I am eternally grateful. We are also given companions along the path. One is Sophia/Wisdom, the Divine Feminine, who guides each step towards an abundant life. There are many others. We never travel alone.

The origin of the word 'courage' comes from a meaning that denotes the heart as the seat of deep feeling. Fear becomes deeply seated in our hearts. It requires the courage of love--it's opposite and stronger emotion--to remove fear from the heart.

It is only as we come to know love and we develop a relationship of trust with Spirit that we are able to de-throne fear from our lives. It requires an invitation on our part. It is truly transformational where the lead is turned into gold. Spirit is such a better partner to dance with than fear. And, oh the places you can go!

The Shortest Day of the Year

2008-12-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

The sky is opaque, filled with snowflakes rushing along, the only thing that seems to be in a hurry. And yet they seem uncertain where they are going, just as content to plop down on my front step as to race along to the tree at the end of the drive. It is quiet and not really light yet. It seems that it doesn’t get much brighter than this Winter Solstice day.

The city has ground to a halt, frantic Christmas shoppers forced to give up their quest, a world already receding, slowing down even further to contemplate what it all means. It is at times like this that one is left with the essence of what is in their life. There is no place to go, nowhere to escape. One is just—well, one just is.

We are often uncomfortable with our “isness”. But it is gifts like today, on the Winter Solstice, which provides us with the opportunity to take an inventory of ourselves. It seems that Mother Earth has conspired to give us time to contemplate some of the more important issues that we are all grappling with.

Closed roads, piles of snow, freezing weather, and for some a loss of power seem to conspire to force us into a somewhat uncomfortable conversation about what it all means. People of all beliefs celebrate the Winter Solstice. Christianity has placed the birth of Christ close to this event. Right at the time when things were the darkest God sent an answer to our desperate prayers for meaning and deliverance. A bridge was built back to God that all peoples of all times of all faiths could make their way back and return to God.

As a Christian, I am saddened that this beautiful imagery of Christ as the bridge builder has been distorted and misunderstood. Once again on a Winter Solstice, there is darkness surrounding what should give every human being on earth hope. As humans so often do, Christians have tried to market Christ, to make his work exclusive, to limit the universal reach of what his life accomplished and saddest of all for me is the critical, judgmental things that are done that hurt and destroy others’ sense of hope and joy and their sense of being loved by God.

As I contemplate what I want more of in my life, I desire to have more love, a greater sense of compassion, and to be able to release judgments in my life—those I hold towards myself and those I hold towards others. I would like to be able to always hold possibility in my heart of what we are each becoming. I would like to hold space for that to happen in my life and in the lives of my family, friends, and fellow travelers on this planet.

For all of the winged and furry creatures and plants and wildlife that surround me, I would like to see them have the opportunity to grow into their greatest potential also. The little chickadee birds have been hanging out on my porch lately, waiting for the next serving of seeds. They seem very grateful and content that someone cares.

This Winter Solstice, maybe we can each ponder a little more than usual just how we can make a difference. In addition, we can celebrate the difference that has been made for us by a God of love and do it in a way that honors the diversity of each person’s isness.

Christmas, A Holiday of Hope for All Faiths

2008-12-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

"Hope In A Manger"

The life of Jesus is more than a beautiful story. His life of selfless love and giving built a bridge back to God. It accomplished something amazing for all people, for all time, in all belief systems. It is not exclusively for Christians, but his life gives access to a knowing of God that is possible to all who truly seek to know God. He is Jacob’s ladder. He is the Christ power.

Jesus’ life built a bridge that connects us back to God. There are two stories that help to describe what he accomplished.

The first story is one of deliverance and it speaks pointedly to the condition of humanity. It comes from the Old Testament story of the children of Israel being delivered from slavery in Egypt. Moses was sent to lead the Israelites from captivity into freedom. It speaks of salvation as freedom from slavery. When one is in bondage, it is freedom that is needed

Indeed, when the idea of deliverance from bondage is the basis for the coming of Christ, we can see that His work includes deliverance from our ignorance and attachments to the world. We are easily overcome with materialism and quickly become slaves to acquiring and supporting the constant demands of our ego. If ever there were an important area where we needed help, it is freedom from our bondage to that which does not last.

A second story also comes from the Old Testament and occurs later in the history of the Hebrew people. This is the story of the captivity in Babylon. For 70 years they lived in exile from Jerusalem. The day of return was one of rejoicing and hope. When we view the work of Christ as one of helping us to return, we realize that we are in exile from our divine nature and the true inheritance that God longs to bestow upon us.

The work of Christ was to build a way of return to God, to bring us back into a close, intimate relationship with the Divine. Through the work of the Spirit, Christ can live within the heart and mind and transform the life. This is the path of return from our exile away from God.

The other great ministry of Jesus in the world was one of healing from sickness. There are many things we experience in life that cause sickness, not only physical sickness, but mental and emotional sickness as well. The work of Christ was and still is to bring healing to whatever we are afflicted with.

This is the real message of Christmas to me—that the Christ power is available in my life to bring me freedom from bondage to my ego and materialism, return and restoration from my exile from life without God, and healing for my soul, my emotions, my mind, and my body. The living Christ that lives within is the gift of the babe in a manger that continues to give me peace in my heart and goodwill towards my fellow travelers. May this same gift be yours this Christmas season.

Live in Love

2008-12-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

"Live in the Light"

How would you like to live in a land filled with love? Sounds like a great place. Can you imagine living without any negative judgments or feelings towards yourself or others? Can you imagine a world where everyone was seen as a spark of God and all of creation was honored and appreciated?

Actually, it’s hard to even imagine treating yourself in this way! What? No negative judgments? Seeing myself as having a divine origin? Love and appreciate all of my life? Wow, when it comes right down to it, we have a hard time loving ourselves let alone everything else in creation!

How do you even begin to start learning to love in this way—this unconditional, supportive, caring type of love that we think of when we imagine perfect, divine love? For me, learning about love has come from my personal relationship with God.

As my life went up and down through difficult and trying times, I found that when everything else fell away, friends, family, relationships, money, and support—that God was still there for me. In my most desperate moments, God was closer than a prayer away. With my very breath and call for help I could feel a warm comforting presence reassuring me that I was not alone.

This palpable sense of God’s presence brought a sense of peace to my panic-stricken heart and through personal experience I have felt the accepting, non-judgmental love and support to continue on.

Love removes fear from our hearts. Maybe living in a state of love then is learning to trust and embrace love and move away from fear. Fear creates separation. It not only separates us from one another creating suspicions and resentments, it separates us from ourselves, cutting us off from our higher intentions and soul. It cuts us off from our relationship with Spirit.

Love has been said to be a choice and I believe it is a type of choice. It is a choice to be in relationship with God’s Spirit and to remain in alignment with our higher purpose—which of course is to be filled with love and live in love. To be in alignment means that our feelings and our thoughts line up with God’s highest intentions for our lives.

The way then that I can begin to live in love is to recognize when my thoughts and emotions are out of alignment with my higher purpose of living in love. Fear, frustration, negativity, resentment, bitterness, un-forgiveness, and judgment of any kind are brought about by thoughts and feelings that will keep me living in a state other than love.

It is when I am able to give these negative ways of being up by giving them up to God and asking for a new way of thinking and feeling that I begin the alchemical process of turning my leaden thoughts into gold. I do this in meditation and prayer by meeting God’s Spirit in my heart and imagine placing these on the altar of my heart and asking for God’s light to transmute them into something beautiful. I imagine them dissipating into light and then ask to be filled with love in their place.

By doing this whenever I find myself moving into fear, I eventually find myself able to live more and more in love. Too often we feel that we are victims in this life and that we have no control over our choices or how to deal with fear. The good news, literally, is that Christ built a bridge or connection back to God that makes it possible for us to access this amazing power of God’s transforming love at anytime we choose.

Jesus’ words are full of power if we avail ourselves of their wisdom. Understanding his words, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” allows to us begin to live in a world of love today. Imagine living in a world of love. Begin today.

Our Greatest Gift

2008-11-26T19:13:00.000-08:00

"Our Greatest Gift, Comes From Above"

What is the greatest gift we possess? Is it our great talents? Is it the bank account that is by now dwindling because of economic meltdowns? Is it our great looks? Or perhaps we are just lucky?

Perhaps our greatest gift is breath. Just think, it is essential to absolutely everything we do. It has nothing to do with our looks, talents, possessions, or status. Everyone has it if they are still moving about on planet Earth. It is an equal opportunity employer.

Breath. In Greek, the word is pneuma, which also translates as spirit.. I like the creation story in Genesis that describes Adam, the clay man, coming to life with the breath of God. Here we are millennia later and we still walk about because of that life-giving breath. There must be something important about it.

How much do I value my breath? Do I take it for granted? Do I appreciate that God-given spirit and soul that makes me the unique creation that I am? Have I become lost, somewhat distracted by what I call my personality and the circumstances of my life?

Too often, we only identify with what we call “self” and all of the accoutrements that we surround ourselves with to support this notion. If I were to remove all of the trappings of my life, I would be reduced to my breath. From this vantage point, I might just be able to get a sense of what God had in mind when God created me.

Meditation provides a quiet sanctuary where I can focus on my breath and quietly go within to an inner temple. It is here that I can inquire of my Maker what I am really here for and who I really am.

It is not an easy task figuring out what life is really about. When I was born, I lost any sense of God’s purpose in my life. Much of what we learn growing up keeps us from the discovery of our soul and it’s calling. We develop our ego and then we spend the rest of our lives maintaining the illusions we have created.

In quietness, however, seated in my inner sanctuary, I can more clearly hear God’s voice in my life. Slowly I receive ideas about what God is trying to do through me.

I invite you to create your own inner temple and make an appointment with God everyday to sit and ponder your breath/spirit/soul. What did God have in mind when God created you? It might be really neat to know what that is.

Creating An Inner Sanctuary

2008-11-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

Does God live in your house? Well, now there’s an interesting idea? Are you really sure you want God hanging around all the time? Maybe God could just stop by now and then for a consultation when things are getting a little rough!

Most of us think about the times when Jesus lived and think that those people were really lucky. If only we could have lived when Jesus lived we would have been his best friend. He could have come and stayed at our house. We would welcome him!

But the message of Jesus was that God had come down to earth to dwell with humankind, Immanuel, God with us. His message was that the Kingdom of God is within you. The Apostle Paul later went on to expound on this idea and stated that the risen Christ lives within you.

The Christ that I know is a living Christ. He is just as present today as he was when he taught his disciples hundreds of years ago. In order to meet with him, I have to create a place in my heart and life for his presence to dwell. Not only can I create an altar in my home that reminds me of my desire to have Jesus live within my heart, I can create an inner sanctuary or temple for him to dwell in.

It is not difficult or expensive to build an inner temple. All one needs to build an inner sanctuary is to use one’s imagination. This sanctuary becomes just as real as one you can see with your eyes. You can build it anyway you like.

Where would you like to meet Jesus? It could be in a vineyard, an apple grove, by a river, on a mountaintop, in a crystal cathedral, or a sanctuary like the one the Israelites worshiped in. It could look like a library or any other space or structure that you can imagine. The important part is to be able to see your inner temple in your imagination and then have a place for Jesus to sit. Then you can invite him to come and visit with you.

At first it might seem a little silly, hanging out there waiting for Jesus to show up, but through the process of consistent meditation and prayer and envisioning the presence of Christ in your inner temple, it becomes a reality. At some point, you will sense his presence.

Too often in Christianity and in other faith systems too, I suspect, we have postponed the reality of God’s presence in our lives because we believe that we can only be with God in Heaven or after death, or at the resurrection or after enlightenment. The sad part about believing this is that this then becomes our reality.

The life and ministry of Jesus was to show us that there was a path he was making back to Heaven. His presence as Spirit in the world makes it possible for us to walk just as closely with him now as his followers did long ago—in fact, we can probably have a closer walk.

So, what’s stopping you? Sit for a few moments in quietness and picture what kind of sanctuary you would create for God to dwell in. It can become one of your favorite rooms in that mansion you are building. And don’t forget to put in a chair or two!

Building Mansions in Heaven

2008-11-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

"How Many Rooms Are In Your House?"

So you’d like to live in a larger home. Does that mean that you will have to move? Probably. But not necessarily out of the house you are living in. If you want to live in a larger home what you really need is a mansion in Heaven. I know a lot of folks that are waiting until they die or until the Lord returns to get their mansion in Heaven, but perhaps there is another way of looking at this. Maybe we can begin living in that mansion now.

One way of translating the reference to Jesus’ remark that there were many mansions in his Father’s home that he was preparing for us is to translate the word mansion as “rooms”. In other words, God has many rooms in God’s Kingdom—there are many things to do, places to go, ways to be, and since all of God’s creation is about service, there are many ways to serve in God’s house.

This idea is a bit different than the one we often hold onto and that is the picture of retiring in Heaven in a large mansion where we live all by ourselves and sit back and do nothing for an eternity or two—or perhaps we take up painting and gardening. The idea that God is preparing a place for us to serve goes along with Jesus’ statement that the Kingdom of God is within us. God is preparing in our hearts and lives new ways of being and serving in the world.

When we move into a larger arena of service, when we open our hearts in love and compassion to our fellow human beings, when we awaken to the needs to care for our planet, our beloved nest, we move into a larger house. Suddenly, we no longer view our lives as only pertaining to our interests and ourselves but we see them as they relate in service for God. This expands our world and our home grows larger. We draw a bigger circle that includes more of God’s creation. We are indeed increasing the size of our home.

We must move from being ego centered to being other centered. It moves us from the broom closet out into the living room. It changes our focus from the notion that God’s Kingdom begins someday to the reality that Jesus taught and that is that the Kingdom begins here and now.

We will never outgrow being of service to the universe. We will always be asked to serve in some way. This is what gives joy and meaning to life. The more our lives of service expand, the more rooms we have in our house. We grow exponentially as we give out from what we receive of the goodness of God.

Imagine Living In A Bigger House

2008-11-04T07:20:00.000-08:00

"How Big Is Your House?"

Imagine living in a bigger house. How big is the house you currently live in? One bedroom? Two bedrooms? One story? Three stories? Wouldn’t it be silly if you lived in a big house but only occupied the smallest room at the back of the house! It sounds ridiculous, but do you know how many folks only live in a small part of their house? It is called their reality and they never venture outside the door of one small room.

By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m not talking about a wooden structure that houses people, but about a person themselves, their psyche. Most of us have painted ourselves into one small room we call our personality. We define ourselves by it, by our thoughts, and by our emotions. The idea that we are anything beyond that has never occurred to us!

Just ask someone to change the way they think about something and you’ll quickly see what I mean. “Well, that’s just the way I am”. “That’s just the way I feel”. If we see ourselves as our feelings or our thoughts or our bodies, then we have created a very small, safe, little room in which to live.

This is the function of our ego, to put us into a safe predictable space. Anything that suggests we move too far out of this comfort zone will usually be perceived as a threat by our ego and we will move into fear. “What is outside my safe room?” We are nearly certain that it is the domain of monsters and dragons.

Organizations of all kinds specialize in keeping people in their appropriate rooms. Religion is especially good at this. Just consider for a moment how beliefs function as a way to keep one in only one room of their house. Beliefs are just a set of ideas that we have decided and agreed upon as the “way things are”.

Of course, we don’t really have enough experience from our limited one-room perspective to know how the universe works or the imaginings of God Almighty, but we like to give it a shot. This wouldn’t be such a problem if we weren’t so arrogant and un-teachable on the subject. But we decide we know how things are and then we keep the door closed.

What if you decide that you want to occupy more than one room of your house? It will be a little scary. In truth, most people never decide to do that. Fear keeps us locked behind closed doors.

The current political situation in the United States is such a great example of this. Much of the political rhetoric plays upon people’s fears. “There is only one way to get us out of this mess and it is my way. The other way is scary and will lead us deeper into a dark hole.” This type of narrow thinking divides people and creates mistrust and anxiety.

The good news is that we live in a free-will universe. We are free to open the door and explore God’s creation at anytime. In fact, God would love to give us a tour of our beautiful home but will wait for an invitation to do so. There are new ways of being and seeing that will open up for us when we are willing to set aside our fears and journey with God’s Spirit.

Love is the golden key that opens the door to a greater awareness and consciousness. Spirit is our companion and guide on the journey. What awaits us is an expanded ministry and a more abundant life. By meeting God within, in our inner temple in the quiet of meditation, we can invite God’s presence and guidance into our lives and begin the exciting process of discovery of who we are and why we are here.

Dance With the Divine

2008-10-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

"In Repose"

The universe is constantly in motion. Think of the waves of the ocean as they perpetually wash onto the shore and back out into the sea. Picture the movement of the clouds through the sky as they alternate between lazy days of wispy haze floating through the sky to the huge thunderclouds that can roar across an expanse in mere moments. The rotation of the earth and the planets as they orbit the sun create patterns of days, seasons, and years.

We too were designed to be in motion. We can either be in step with nature or out of step. As a wise man once said, “There is a time for everything.” But too often we are out of step with the rhythms of the universe. In our modern, stay busy constantly culture, we have somehow gotten frozen into a constant “on” position.

The value we place on accomplishment, accumulation, and advancement seem to have blinded us to the balancing gifts of playfulness, pause, and peacefulness. Just like the day pauses from being sun-filled and radiant to star-filled and reflective, so our lives were designed to be in balance with a time for doing and a time for resting; a time for working and a time for playing; a time to for determined, purposeful steps, and a time to dance.

The idea of motion is really about energy and how we use it. Ideally, it is about harmony and balance. Our lives feel beautiful and well lived when they have something of all the good things that we can partake of. Think of how different the motion of sleep feels to the energy of work. Imagine what it is like when you do not get to sleep and become worn out and fatigued. We were designed to alternate between resting and working. This is so vital to our health that we become sick when we do not respect these basic physical principles.

Spiritually we can become sick or weak when we do not take time to balance the doing and being aspects in our lives. Creating sacred space in your life is an important part of balancing energies to bring about harmony and joy. Too often our focus is on accumulating material things and we forget the importance of spending time finding out who we are and why we are here.

Days can go by without creating time for sacred activities—meditation, prayer, reading sacred scripture and taking the time to dance with the Divine. When we neglect these activities it is like skipping sleep or forgetting to eat. Our spirit becomes dull and we have a vague hunger for something more.

Next time you are tempted to fill up your life with more busyness, stuff, or doing consider the ocean, the clouds, and the sun and moon. They vary their cycle’s everyday, waxing and waning, rolling into the earth and back out to the sea. We too need to take time to dance, pray often, and listen instead of speak. The more we open ourselves to these possibilities the more beautiful our dance will become.

How Much Is Enough?

2008-10-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

"More Than Enough"

There’s a good chance that greed has a lot to do with our current economic crisis. It is easy to blame the “big players" in this picture and think that a few have caused all the problems. But blaming has never gotten me very far personally. I’m inclined to look in the mirror and ask myself “when am I greedy?”

There is a great Stuart Wilde quote about the God Force. He speaks about everything belonging to the God Force, so that when something is stolen or lost, we can simply respond with, “Oh, they’ve come for the…” (To read the quote look at "In the Care of the God Force on the Sept.23rd post)

So, this was put to the test a bit lately. I had purchased a small makeup bag, red in color, and very cute. I hadn’t had it for too long when it disappeared. I searched high and low and couldn’t find it anywhere. I finally checked back at the store where I originally purchased it and found that I could get another one. So, I bought a second one.

I thought if this one disappeared, then I wasn’t supposed to have it. It belonged to the God Force. Well, can you believe it? I didn’t have it for two weeks and it has once again vanished! Back to the God Force and out of my life.

I have been asking myself what the lesson in this is. It doesn’t take brilliance to figure it out. I have enough. Ah, three simple words, and yet so hard for us to say. Try it. “I have enough.” I’ve decided that perhaps standing in front of the mirror a few times a day and repeating it would be a good idea. “I have enough.”

Think of all the ways that we are invited to spend our money. Magazines, commercials, billboards, and even our friends, all encourage us to get what we want. The problem, even up to the top of the corporate ladder, seems to be that we never feel that we have enough. We keep on accumulating way beyond what our true needs and desires are.

We will even go into debt to purchase things that we really don’t need. Now, I remember a time when I didn’t have enough money for necessities and it was difficult to feed and clothe three children without accumulating debt. And yet I wonder if I hadn’t felt we needed so much that even then we could have done with less.

There are times when people have nothing. That’s not what I’m referring to. I’m referring to the fact that most of us continue to buy things that we don’t really need. Imagine a sense of abundance that goes beyond materialism. Imagine that abundance is about an inner contentment and a fullness of God’s presence within your soul.

Joy overflows from a heart filled with this kind of abundance. That is what I want to have more of. Money and possessions will never give me that sense of abundance. It is only the love of our Creator that brings a lasting sense of fullness. Then, in spite of what circumstances are swirling around us, we have enough. I have enough.

We Are One

2008-10-16T08:18:00.001-07:00

"Beautiful Golden Strands"

In a world that seems to be unraveling at the seams it is good to know that there is something greater at work than disruption and despair. In the middle of chaos there is a higher purpose and plan. There is hope that we will learn from the financial meltdown and greed and begin to make different choices. Imagine a world where the greater good of all were considered. It is a world where the reality of our connectedness is acknowledged and honored.

You could imagine this type of connectedness as similar to the web of a spider—Its central point is the source of love—our Creator. Out from that galactic center run beautiful golden strands carrying the breath of life that connects each living thing back to Source. Running between every created being are strands so that just like in the spider’s web, when one strand is touched, the movement is felt throughout the whole web.

When souls connect with the purpose of being an instrument or channel or conduit for God’s love, beautiful golden light streams between them and they become a force for good in the world. When souls shut off their hearts from the Source of love, they create a blockage of light and the love and resources of God cannot flow through them to other parts of the web.

At this time in the history of our little planet, we have the opportunity to make choices that will either help to connect each of us in love back to our Creator or to withdraw into fear and darkness and create more separation between us. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that just at a time when we need to press together more than ever before, we are tempted to pull apart and retreat?

Learning community and connectedness is one of our greatest lessons at this time. The god of individualism that has reigned supreme has nearly destroyed us and we need to learn to once again embrace the concept of community and service to one another. Wherever you see people embrace this concept you see healing begin to follow in its wake.

Imagine a beautiful, golden web with light streaming through every strand, so that no matter where you were on the web you were connected with the beautiful healing light of God’s love. If we can begin to see our lives and our world in this way, there will never be a time that we feel alone, disheartened, or discouraged because the image of this beautiful metaphor will remind us that we are all One in God’s Kingdom.

Times, They Are A Changin'

2008-10-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

"Shine A Light In the Darkness"

Times they are a changin’! It is amazing the speed at which the world is spinning! Our current economic crisis in the United States is now a global crisis. It is an incredible time of change and upheaval. Do we really live in an abundant universe, or is that just a pie in the sky idea?

Last time I checked in with God to see if there was a shortage in God’s great universe, the answer was a resounding no—absolutely no shortages where God is concerned. The problem, it seems, lies with us. Actually there seems to be a bit of a greed epidemic going on with a few coming out on the supposed top of things while the rest sink to the bottom. This has very little to do with God and a whole lot to do with us.

The ironic thing is that we seem quite disinclined to take responsibility for the mess we’ve made. It reminds me of when I had small children at home. They could make an incredible mess in a fairly short amount of time, but they were not real keen on cleaning things up once the fun was over.

Right about now, God must feel as if a messy, rebellious set of kindergarteners were sitting in the middle of a big mess they had just made but were wondering who had done it and even some suggesting that it was the fault of God. Well, the answer is quite obvious to everyone else in the universe and unfortunately we are only busy pointing fingers.

Accountability and responsibility seem to be two qualities that we are in need of developing. I was reminded of an important question to ask one’s self the other day by a friend I was talking with about a project we are working on. “What am I wiling to be accountable for?”

What an important question to be asking ourselves right now. Here are a few more:

“What am I willing to be accountable for in regards to my time, talents, and gifts?

“Where am I willing to serve?”

“How do I choose to show up on a daily basis and offer myself as an agent for change in the world?”

Rather than feeling helpless, hopeless, and victims of events outside of our control, we can focus on where we actually have the power to make a difference. A victim mentality is a stance of powerlessness. By choosing to be a victim over the choice to be an agent for change we are shirking our responsibility and refusing to be accountable for the gifts and abilities we do have to make a difference.

Ask yourself again, “What am I wiling to be accountable for?” and then put your energy and emotion and efforts into areas that you do have control of and can make a difference in.

If there was ever a time for our gifts to be consecrated in the service of light and God’s kingdom, that time is now. Go ahead, and get off the victim couch and become a victor, serving in the best way you know how. You will be given additional gifts, as you need them so proceed together with God’s Spirit, holding with faith to the strong arm that holds you.

Be A River

2008-09-25T08:00:00.001-07:00

In the Care of the God Force--Part Two

2008-09-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

Look into your closet and chances are that you have more clothes and stuff in there than you can possibly wear. There is a good chance that you wear only a small percentage of your clothes and yet we hang onto much that we never use. Look into your garage and chances are you will see more than just your car sitting there. The chances are greater still that it is full of things that you haven’t used in years.

Everything we own has a part of our energy attached to it. It would stand to reason then that the more you own the more your energy is spread around. The things that are stacked, stuffed, and hanging around in our lives represent parts of us that are stuck, stacked, or just plain hung up somewhere. When you look at things this way, you realize that maybe ignoring those areas of clutter and accumulation is not such a good idea.

In times of collective fear and scarcity, it is especially important to get your energy and yourself moving. One of the best ways to do this is through sharing of your own abundance. When you think about it, one of the main reasons we have extra stuff around that we aren’t using or wearing is because we are afraid that we might need it some day, or that we spent good money on it, or that we’ll get around to it sometime. This type of thinking is at the root of scarcity—the fear that there is not enough to go around.

The good news is that we live in an abundant universe. There are more than enough resources for everyone. The problem, however, is that collectively and individually we hoard our resources out of fear. We have all been raised to some extent with a scarcity mindset. As a result, we tend to shut down the flow of abundance.

Think of abundance as a river. It is sourced at the mountaintop by the melting snow. It flows down the mountain into the valleys and eventually into the ocean. It condenses up into the clouds as rain and snow and is re-deposited onto the mountain as snow, creating a loop that waters and replenishes the earth in an ongoing process.

We are meant to keep moving like the river allowing resources to flow through us out into the world. When you look at your clutter, extra stuff, clothing, or whatever you want to call it that is stuffed, packed away into corners, just lying about, or neatly organized here and there you realize that perhaps you are creating the equivalent of an energetic logjam in your life.

What would happen if you cleared some of that away, passing on your abundance to those who might need it and allow the abundance of the universe to flow through you? There are exciting possibilities in this idea. Sadly, many of us are too fearful to try it or to let go of our stuff, even when we haven’t used it in years. In fact, if we hang on to it long enough, it often turns into mere garbage.

The antidote to a stagnate life is to keep you and your stuff in circulation attuned to the needs of the universe. We can become a collecting pond or a river. The choice is ours. I like the idea of a clear, vibrant river with the energy of Source coursing through my life. What about you? Find someone today who is in need of some of your abundance. You will both become wealthier as a result.

It's Not About the Stuff

2008-09-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

In the Care of the God Force--Part One

2008-09-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

Recently my son’s car was stolen. He had parked it outside of his work after lunch and when he went out that evening it was gone. It has been a disappointing ordeal for him. He had invested a lot of time and money into his car in rebuilding it and had just recently primed the whole car getting it ready to paint. It was looking really good and evidently the local chop shop thought so also.

Many folks right now have just lost everything they own through the devastation of hurricanes, flooding, and wind. It is an horrific thing to lose all that you own. You can suddenly feel stripped of your identity and life force. The interesting thing is that we come into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing, but in between we accumulate a lot of stuff.

We are energetically and emotionally attached to our stuff so that when we lose it we feel that we have lost a part of ourselves. We invest a lot of ourselves into what we own. We actually love our possessions!

This idea of how much energy our stuff takes up in our lives is an interesting one. I have recently been working on having less stuff. It is not easy to get rid of our stuff. It seems to be stuck to us, almost like a cord is attached to us, so that we have a hard time parting with our things. They don’t necessarily even have to be nice things.

I ran across a quote from Stuart Wilde from his book, Infinite Self, which offers some sage advice at how we might view our possessions.

Everything you have is in the care of the God Force. If you came home and the stereo is missing, you can say, “Ah, they’ve come for the stereo,” rather than getting uptight about it. It’s just gone back to the God Force. Somebody else has it now. That leaves space for another stereo to come into your life. Or it leaves space for no stereo at all. Now you’ll have the silence to meditate and think about who you are and what you want in this life.

This is a powerful concept that is more easily said than accomplished. But how important that we learn to gain some perspective on our stuff. We are spirit—a spark off the Divine—and not one iota about who we are is about what we own.

Part of our spiritual practice should be about learning to give away what we have on a regular basis. It doesn’t mean that we are supposed to be destitute although many spiritual students have learned to practice “voluntary simplicity”. By learning to keep our possessions in perspective in regards to the whole bigger scheme of life we actually gain freedom to grow, learn, and become a larger version of ourselves. Our possessions can trap us into a smaller reality.

In another post I will share a little more about my exploration of this and in de-cluttering your life and how this facilitates de-cluttering our minds and emotions and can help us along on the spiritual path.

Hope For The Future

2008-09-18T07:54:00.001-07:00

The Invitation

2008-09-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

I came across this poem the other day that says so much about what we need in our individual lives right now. Imagine asking our politicians and leaders these important questions and only electing individuals who lived with this kind of integrity. Enjoy.

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments

Dream Big!

2008-09-11T08:09:00.001-07:00

A Castle by the Sea

2008-09-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

How would you like to have a castle by the sea—a mystical, beautiful, enchanted place, sitting up on the side of a cliff where you could see for miles and have a sense of perspective that you were safe, you could see what was coming, and you were master of all that you beheld? This special place would be like your gyroscope, a guiding instrument, a place where you could go to find answers, be filled with purpose, and rest back into a sense of knowing that all was well. It would be a place by the sea where you could just breathe, let go and Be.

It sounds too good to be true—something only found in fairytales or only accessible to the very wealthy. But the reality is that we all have a castle by the sea. It is our soul—our essence—the meeting place of Spirit, and the dwelling where we can go to find meaning and direction in our life.

The problem for many, however, is that they have no idea where to find their soul, how to hear it’s lovely voice, or how to enter into the quiescent land of their castle by the sea. Without the guidance of our soul, we are wanderers, seeking to find direction and pulled in many ways by many voices. Sometimes—no, oftentimes led by the voices of others rather than the voice of our own soul.

The voice of the soul remains quiet until called upon. The ego is the vehicle we have always used to live in the world and it is usually the director of our lives. Until we call upon the guidance of our soul and diligently seek to find our castle by the sea, we will be led by the needs of the ego.

It is the soul that links to Spirit. It is here that the voice of God speaks to us. To learn to hear this voice we have to actively invite and seek the guidance of our soul and ask to hear the lovely whispers of Spirit’s voice.

The good news is that there is a tried and true way, a well-trod path that shows us how to find our castle by the sea. The scriptures tell us that if we ask, we will receive; if we seek, we will find; if we knock, the door will be opened to us. Many seekers have found this to be true through spiritual practice—the daily activity of making time for hearing the voice of Spirit in your life.

Through meditation and prayer and the contemplation of sacred texts we start to build a bridge from our soul to our mind. This doesn’t happen overnight or over the course of a few days. If we put in a little time here and there, the building is slow. If we commit to the path, the link is created sooner.

Once a link is established with our soul, it becomes the master of our life instead of our ego. We respond to the promptings of Spirit instead of the needs of our lower self. The guidance from our soul and Spirit assist us in fulfilling our place in the world.

From our castle by the sea we have a perspective and guidance that we can never have living in the valley. From here we have a view of the abundance that God has in mind for us. The vastness of creation opens up before us and we realize that we are truly sons and daughters of God.

Celebrating Success!

2008-09-07T09:10:00.001-07:00

Graduate: To Commence To Begin

2008-09-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

This June I had two children graduate from college—on the same day—in two different locations—at two different times—in two different cities! Fortunately, we were able to make it to both and celebrate the successes of both children. You can tell by their smiling faces that they too are thrilled with their accomplishments!

Commencement is a fitting word for a graduation. When one is young, you hardly know what this means. All you can see is the finish line and the completion of many years of hard work. The word of course means, “to commence”—to begin. Indeed it is because of the hard work and completion that you are now able to begin something new.

Many graduates feel a little lost after graduation because of the time and energy spent towards completing their goal. Even years later, far into adulthood, we too often feel a little at loose ends at the completion of some long-worked for goal. Perhaps we have attained a promotion, or built a house, or launched children off into the world on their own. Whatever the magnitude of our accomplishment, there can be a sense of lack of direction and ennui at the end of it. Where we expected a continued elation, we can find a new lack of direction.

On the spiritual path, we often work towards goals sometimes overcoming bad habits, reigning in a bad temper, releasing old baggage, and maintaining a higher emotional state of being. We celebrate these successes for we recognize that they are the result of a deepening relationship with Spirit. They are, on the other hand, behaviors that have to continue to be realized in our lives.

Graduation is recognition of something accomplished. After this comes the realization of it in our lives—making it our own, growing into the fullness of what God has in mind for us. Daily we are called to realize the potential of our soul’s calling and high purpose. One success, or ten makes no difference for the path only ends when we return to Source.

Each day we have the opportunity to realize something new in our lives and in our ministry to others. Certainly we must celebrate our successes, but at the same time we must hold equally in mind the idea of a continuous new beginning of our walk with Spirit. Daily spiritual practice is the key to forward movement in our lives. I invite you to begin again each day.

One Day At A Time

2008-09-02T19:33:00.001-07:00

My Grace Is Sufficient

2008-09-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

Pain has been my companion for the last few months. I’m thinking it has overstayed its welcome. Hmm…I’m hoping to make it to 50 years old before completely coming unglued. I recently had an MRI to see if we could discover what was causing my lower back pain, but the only answer that came back was that, “you’re getting older.” Well, duh. Aren’t we all?

I’m bordering on complaining here and alas, I believe that everything can be our teacher if we allow it to. So what have I been learning? For one thing I am learning that I am no longer 20 years old and capable of doing anything I feel like physically and not set off a corresponding set of sore muscles and aches and pains.

I’m also learning to ask for help. Maybe I don’t need to heave that 50-pound bale of shavings around by myself or shovel a dump truck load of sand by hand, or bounce around on the tractor mowing for three hours. Perhaps I’m even learning that moderation in all things is a good idea.

I’m learning that many folks struggle with chronic pain on a continual basis and they learn to handle it with grace and without complaint. I am not my aches and pains. I am not my body. I am not my feelings about my body or my pain.

The list could go on, but I think you get the idea. The real challenge on the spiritual path is whether or not that we believe that God’s grace is sufficient for our needs. We frequently want grace that is sufficient for the rest of our lives—a whole backyard full of grace just so we can feel comfortable that there will be enough for every eventuality. But, of course, grace comes measured out in just sufficient amounts to deal with our need of the moment.

Isn’t that just the way of Spirit? Always present. In the now. For the moment. Just like our breath. We fill our lungs with air—to capacity—and then we breathe out. Grace is just like our breath. The Spirit moves in with our breath—fills us—and then we breathe again. It is a dance, really, a graceful, ever-present dance with the Divine.

God’s goodness and sufficiency and ever-sustaining breath filling us, moment by moment, giving us the strength—the grace—to cope with the now. When we focus on the breath, we find the secret for being filled with grace that is sufficient.

Wake Up and Make A Difference!

2008-08-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

Are you a blessing counter or a worrywart? Have you ever noticed that you can’t be focused on the positive and still be anxious at the same time? In order to see all of the good things around us we have to turn our eyes and attention away from the negative.

From what I can observe it seems that to be employed in mass media communications you have to be on the lookout for the negative and ever-vigilant to make sure that not one iota of negative possibility is overlooked. Of course that is what people are interested in learning about and so that is exactly the atmosphere of reporting we have created.

But what would happen if we decided to focus on our blessings instead? It wouldn’t mean that we wouldn’t address issues that need changing, but they could be presented as such and a call to others to help remediate an imbalance.

It is possible that we could choose to also report the amazing breakthroughs in science, students that are excelling in school, and changes that are being made in the world. What if the news hour and the talk shows and the entertainment talking heads used their time and influence to give us an update on where we are making progress with our challenges.

Rather than reporting events that people feel they have no control over we could focus our attentions on how we could make a difference in the world. We are all connected and yet our current style of reporting puts us into a disconnected, victim type mentality.

Of course that would require a mindset that most of us have not learned to master. So I’d guess you could say our current evening news reflects the mindset of the majority. Or does it? We can talk ourselves in or out of a recession, just by what is reported. We can become collectively depressed or elated, just by the tenor of the news.

There is a universal principle in effect here and it is about the law of proximity—we become like those things we are most around. It is similar to the principle “that by beholding we become changed.” So it seems that the best way to change the world is to begin by changing myself.

I choose to look around the world and count the blessings and beauty in the people that I see. I have turned off the negativity of the news and instead pray for a more connected humanity and hold space for a world filled with hope where we love and honor one another and respond to the needs of those who have less than we do.

I know that I am not alone in my desire for a more positive world. Change is in the air. There has never been a better time to work for positive change. You can start today right in your own heart.

May We All Be One

2008-08-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

Healing Separation

2008-08-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Separation is one of the major problems on our planet right now. A sense of separateness from one another, from the planet that we call home, and a feeling of separation from God or Source keep us feeling isolated and alone. An important part of our spiritual growth and healing is recognizing the connectedness of All That Is.

From the Christian perspective, Jesus’ prayer in John 17 sums up the healing that our Creator has in mind for us—that we may be One—as Christ was One with the Father—as we may be One with Him—and that we may be One with one another. This reality requires nothing short of a miracle as what we call “sin” has created a great rift of separation between us all.

As I have explored some of the reasons for my own feelings of separateness I have discovered that many of them come from my wounds.. My sense of self, my ego has been damaged along the way and has caused me to see myself as different and separate from others. Until my sense of identity is founded upon something other than my own history and my wounds, I will continue to see myself as cut off from others.

True spiritual healing involves releasing my past and my wounds. It is letting the “old self” die off. I choose to no longer place my identity in the past or in what has happened to me. Instead, I embrace a new identity. The Apostle Paul calls it “putting on the mind of Christ” or “becoming a new creation in Christ”.

This is a process of allowing the Christ power to live in me. This is accomplished through a mutual agreement between the Spirit and myself. I come to God every day with a desire to be a new creature and ask that instead of living from my lower wounded self (ego) I instead be filled with the power of the indwelling Christ (higher self). By giving Source permission to work in my life in this way, I am on the road to transformation.

When Christ lives in me or when I am filled with the Spirit, my sense of separateness from others and from God starts to diminish. I am enabled to see a spark of the Divine in others, I see all of creation as coming from the hand of a loving Creator, and I recognize that I too, am a child of God. With this recognition, healing comes into my heart and life. The prayer of Jesus regarding Oneness begins to be realized in me and the great rift of sin on our planet begins to heal.

Enjoy the Journey

2008-08-16T18:45:00.001-07:00

Lighten Up!

2008-08-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

Do you realize that you have the freedom to do whatever you want with your life? Of course, there are the basic laws of the universe that we are subject to like the law of reaping and sowing, the law of gravity, etc., but by in large we are free to create our lives with the materials we have been given. So the big question becomes, “Do you like the life you have created? Does it feel like a life of freedom and opportunity?”

We create rules and limitations in our minds in order to feel safe and secure. We were indoctrinated as children into different belief systems. This was necessary and important for us to develop and mature. The problem, however, is that we often don’t develop past limiting beliefs.

Take for instance the belief that you are not a creative person. The reality is that we are all creative people, that is the way God designed us. But many folks were told at a young age that they should not waste their time trying to be an artist because they were definitely behind the door when God passed that talent out! So, they go through their whole lives believing that they cannot create anything and so they don’t. Their lives are flat and colorless. They live with a limiting belief structure that keeps them trapped.

Translate this idea into anything else that you can imagine—any talent, structure, or belief that you hold as a given reality. If you are honest, brave, and willing to do a little hard work, you can discover the root of many of your beliefs. Some of them are very poorly founded indeed! With a little excavation in your psyche you might even be able to unearth some real treasures! Some of these relics have no current value in your life at all and in fact can keep you living a very mundane, dull existence.

No one can tell you which beliefs need to go, which ones no longer serve you, which ones keep you trapped. This is your personal and important work. At some point, any belief can keep you stuck, but that is usually a long ways down the road from where we are now. For now, it might be a good idea to see if you can just let go of some of the more burdensome ones.

Once you lighten up a little and discover that perhaps you don’t need quite so much baggage, you might feel free to release a few more of your personal treasures. The road to freedom is littered with a lot of stuff folks have let go of. The journey is to be enjoyed. Lighten up!

To Forgive is Divine

2008-08-13T08:27:00.001-07:00

Forgive and Become Whole

2008-08-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

One of life’s most important lessons is to learn to forgive. It seems that in the process of living we accumulate a lot of stuff that either needs forgiveness from others or that creates a need to extend forgiveness to others. We are either in need of being forgiven or we find the need to forgive. It is an ongoing lesson.

At the heart of forgiveness we find unconditional love. It is pretty much impossible to forgive without love. Try forgiving yourself, for instance, without being full of a sense of love and acceptance. If you cannot picture being filled with love and being completely accepted by God, how can you possibly be filled with a sense of forgiveness and wholeness? And if you are not completely overcome with this sense of fullness how could you possibly be able to extend that kind of unrestricted goodness and acceptance to others?

Without love it is impossible to forgive. Love takes us outside of ourselves. It takes us beyond the ego and the smallness of our mistakes or the mistakes of others. It elevates us to the level of Spirit. It is only from this perspective that we see our humanness for what it is. We see through the eyes of our Creator and realize that we are so much more than our mere human form. Through the eyes of Spirit we see the great value that God places upon us and upon our fellow travelers.

We are on a classroom planet, here to learn the important lessons that we need to develop our character. Once we realize this we will be able to view our mistakes and the mistakes of others as part of a learning process. When we understand this we are better able to understand the concept of grace. Grace is also about unconditional love. We are given much grace to learn the lessons we are here to learn.

There is more than enough unconditional love, grace, and acceptance available to us from Source to be able to embrace others and ourselves in forgiveness. This is our key to living a life full of joy and happiness. Our part is to learn to embrace this love and let it flow through us. This brings healing to our souls and makes us a conduit for healing love to others.

I'm Going To Have A Good Day

2008-08-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Make A Conscious Choice

2008-08-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

In times of stress what do you do to uplift your spirits? Do you ever find yourself being pulled down into negativity and the heaviness of life? We have the choice to either get sucked into the muck of life here on earth or we have the opportunity to take another path. That is the path of conscious choice. Rather than become a victim to the negative influences around us, we can choose to stay in a positive frame of mind.

If this sounds a little like a Pollyanna complex and a way of just sticking your head in the sand you are probably like a lot of folks who think that we cannot control the way we react to things. When things are hard we are supposed to go around depressed. Right?

We definitely live in sobering times. Things are serious on Planet Earth. It is precisely because of this that learning to react in positive ways to negative events is so important. When we succumb to the overall heavy atmosphere that we live in we have nothing healing to offer those around us. If we want to be of service, then it is essential that we learn to maintain an inner light.

All of the world’s religious traditions speak of enlightenment—which in its most basic form is having a light within oneself. I like the view of Christianity that speaks of having the living Christ within. When we ask the Spirit to live within us we are inviting Light Itself to be at home with us. This is accomplished by invitation and practice.

Spiritual practice is a daily learning to allow the light to live within us and a learning of how to be in the world in a new way. Thus, when we are faced with negativity we have an arsenal of resources to fall back on. Anything that helps to lift our spirits like music, spending time in nature, reading inspirational material, meditating, praying, or reaching out to others are all things that can help us to turn a negative into a positive. This is spiritual alchemy.

By learning how to go within and feel the presence of the Spirit in your heart you will learn to connect to something higher than yourself and the hard times that you may be going through. When you make a conscious choice about how you are going to react, you are taking a step towards being a lightworker in the world. You are then on your way to becoming a powerful agent for healing on our planet.

Let Your Voice Be Heard

2008-08-05T16:28:00.001-07:00

Writing Creates A Pathway To Your Soul

2008-08-05T16:25:00.000-07:00

One of the most powerful tools you can use to create a pathway to your soul or higher self is to write. Taking the time to express your highest spiritual thoughts in writing helps to create a link or bridge from your personality to your soul. It is an invitation to your soul to speak to you.

This can be a somewhat confusing task. Just how do you sit down at the computer or with pen and paper in hand and write something when you don’t have an end goal in mind? We are usually so task driven that we take this approach with everything including intuition and spiritual development.

This is a different type of writing, however, and can best be developed as an extension of your spiritual practice. You can use it as a continuation of meditation and prayer. After taking the time to read, meditate and pray, the soul is often full and it is a perfect time to invite it to share its highest aspirations and nudges.

Perhaps you start with a text that has inspired you, or a thought perceived during meditation. This can just be a sentence or two, but at least take the time to write it down. Often times, this is all that is needed to help create a flow of ideas. Just write freely without censuring or editing what comes to mind.

Make this time a conversation with your soul and shut out all thoughts of others or what someone else might think. By doing this consistently you will start to develop a relationship with your soul. It will notice that you are interested in what it has to say. When you shut down the inner critic and ego and allow the words to flow through you, you will find that you have more to say than you originally thought.

The Spirit speaks directly to our soul. One of the gifts in meditation and quietness is learning to hear the still, small voice of Spirit. By learning to sit quietly listening for the voice of Spirit we also learn to hear the voice of our own soul. Without the noise of the ego and personality and all of the incumbent “shoulds” that reside within it, we begin to discern the blueprint or essence of the soul.

When writing is done with the purpose of inviting the soul’s voice to be heard, when we stop to ask the Spirit for assistance and guidance, we begin to build a conscious bridge from the esoteric, quiescent land of soul and Spirit to the more exoteric, third dimensional land of the personality. The resulting words will help us to develop a path of service to the world and help us to find our authentic voice.

If ever there was a time for the soulful voices of men and women to be heard, now is that time. You have a unique voice to be heard at this time. By making a daily spiritual practice of writing a priority you are developing your unique ability to express God’s Spirit in the world.

Jesus Demonstrated Love In Action

2008-07-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

Fear Separates. Love Unites

2008-07-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

Fear separates. Love unites. These are two of the most fundamental principles of the universe. It is also the main message of the New Testament. We are currently drinking the last dregs of our experience in fear. We are exhausting the possibilities of separation. We are getting ready to embrace the message of love. It is by embracing one another in love that we will be able to heal our planet and to once again create our Garden of Eden.

The ancient stories tell us that in the beginning we lived together in love and harmony in a garden filled with delights. When fear entered the hearts of man and woman with it came separation. We often find ourselves on the polar-opposite end of many issues, understandings, and discussions. It is evident in gender issues, politics, and religion. Separation permeates our society. We are fearful and create strong borders, boundaries, and policies that try insure our safety and separateness from one another.

The issues of immigration would be mute if we were not living in fear. But we hold onto our notions of separateness. The ego is afraid of losing its individuality and distinctness. It is afraid of the more soulful existence. It believes that resources are limited. It does not believe in an abundant universe and it is highly skeptical of a love that unites and believes that we are all One.

For us to truly be able to embrace the idea of a love that unites we must first awaken our soul. The soul sees from a higher perspective. The soul seeks to be in communion with God. The soul has the ability to see others as a spark of the Divine and it longs to be united with others.

The problem that we face is that we have been cut off from our soulful self. We all too frequently live only as an ego who worries about getting its needs met. Perhaps one reason that the soulful self is quiet is that we are too often busy. It is the feminine aspect in creation, the ability to be quiet and receptive, the desire to open ourselves completely to Spirit that opens the doorway to the soul.

When we learn to make time to go within it is then that we will awaken the soul and begin to hear the messages of love and abundance that God longs to speak to us. When we look outside of ourselves into the world it is easy to hear messages of fear and separateness. By going within and inviting the Spirit to communicate with our soul, we will start to awaken to a sense of love and healing.

Love unites everything that it is allowed to permeate. God is love. This is a message that we can only hear clearly in the quietness of our own hearts. Seek today to be filled with love. Ask that it pervade everything that you do, everything you think, everything you speak, and all that you are. You will not be disappointed. God is just waiting for an invitation.

Searching For Gold

2008-07-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Time For A Little Magic

2008-07-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

It’s an old story. It has been told and re-told in different fairy tales, myths, and languages, in different times and places. But it is essentially the same story. It is about a wise one, a magician, a sage. It is the story of someone who holds the key to transforming lead into gold. It is the story of the alchemist.

Many are the pilgrimages that have been undertaken in a quest to find the one who holds such power. Imagine the riches that one would possess if they could take a simple, inexpensive metal like lead and turn it into gold. Ah, the good fortune of knowing such a chemistry!

Of course, the moral in the story is that we can each one become an alchemist. You probably know one already. It is the person who likes knitting and turns their talent into making blankets for orphans. It is the invalid who cannot get out but who uses their solitude and quiet time as an opportunity for a prayer ministry. Or it is the neighbor next door who collects pop cans and turns them in to raise money for some worthy cause.

Our world could really use more alchemists right now. We are living in a time of leaden concern and mounting anxiety. These are the perfect materials for transformation for the alchemist. Spiritual alchemy is about taking the mundane, the difficult, and the challenging situations that come our way and turning them into meaningful avenues of service.

Collectively we have made many poor choices. These poor choices range from the ecological to the political to the spiritual. We have made poor choices in how we treat people different from us whether that is in gender or color or nationality. We have hoarded resources instead of sharing them and squandered abundance so that a few have much and many have little.

Difficult times allow us to take a good look at our decisions and see where we might start to act differently. All spiritual alchemy begins when we see the opportunity for transformation and volunteer to be used by Source. The Spirit enables us to shine light into dark situations. We can become a light worker for the universe.

All it takes to volunteer for this type of work is to say, “Here am I, send me.” The goal and privilege of daily spiritual practice is to help make a difference in the world. As we are transformed and filled with a sense of God’s goodness and sovereignty, we are equipped to share with others our sense of joy and courage.

This is true spiritual alchemy. We see our own hearts and heaviness transformed. We turn from discouragement to peace. Once we have a living experience of this we naturally want to help lighten the load for other folks as well.

Imagine the changes that could take place if we would all volunteer to make a difference. By taking the resources of our life—our time, our talent, and our hearts and using them for the highest good of all—we will turn our world into gold.

Dare to Just Be

2008-07-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

To Judge or Not to Judge, That is the Question

2008-07-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Do you ever find yourself in judgment towards someone or yourself? It’s kind of a silly question. If we are honest with ourselves, we frequently find ourselves in judgment! In fact, we can live in a state of perpetual judgment. Driving down the freeway, for instance, there is a little voice sitting off to the side, perhaps perched on our shoulder, that can keep up a constant banter of varying commentaries about the quality of others' driving, the performance or lack thereof of co-workers, the inadequacies of a spouse or partner, and best of all, our own shortcomings and tendencies towards imperfection!

By the time we arrive at our destination, we are fairly exhausted from our time on the bench. Having performed a whole morning of adjudication our energies our spent! Such it seems goes the human existence!

Can you imagine the freedom you might feel if you were able to release judgment and abide in a state of acceptance and forgiveness? I’m not sure it has even dawned on some of us that this is even a possibility. We are so accustomed to making judgments that we see it as the only reality. We often call this being discriminating. It actually is a form of discrimination—one that shuts us off from others and makes us feel either inferior or superior from others.

It separates us and keeps us from understanding the connectedness and oneness that exists within all of creation. We perhaps have confused discrimination and judgment with discernment. To be discerning is to see what we see. To be discerning is to go through life with our eyes, ears, and hearts open. The difference, however, is that we do not place judgments on what we see and hear. We become observers of ourselves and others rather than adjudicators of all of life’s events.

The scriptures give a fairly clear warning about judging. “Judge not that you be not judged.” It is a principle that warns us away from our tendencies to place ourselves above or below others. If we can release judgment and embrace acceptance we move closer towards freeing ourselves to truly grow. Judgment is like quicksand. It sucks us into a locked position that prohibits us from moving forward.

Once we move into judgment we are in a closed position. We have reached a conclusion and shut the door. In order to grow, to be of service to others, and to bring healing into our lives and our world, we must remain open. This requires the suspension of judgment. We must be willing to adapt a “wait and see” attitude. From this stance we are able to entertain optimism, extend forgiveness, and relinquish our tight-fisted control over things.

Think of the freedom that is waiting for you if you start to release judgment and move into a more fluid state of acceptance. This is exactly the message preached by Jesus. It is in understanding that it is not in our doing but in our being that God delights. It is our essence that we long to discover. This is how we wish to be seen by others.

If we can begin to look for that essence in ourselves, seek to see it in others, and release our tendencies to see only that which is wrong, we are on the path to living a life free of judgments. This is a path of peace.

We Live in An Abundance Universe

2008-07-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

More Than Enough

2008-07-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

A lot of folks are feeling fearful these days. They are worrying about the economy, war, ecology, their kids, their grandkids, the condition of things. We recently refinanced our house and so I had a lot of interactions with our bank. They are feeling fearful, also.

Fear is an interesting thing. It is like a thick fog that descends over the consciousness and wraps its cold tentacles around the throat making it difficult for one to breathe. The eyes seem to squint through the darkness and everything appears to be a monster.

When we move into fear either collectively or individually, we have entered a different realm. Fear is the realm of scarcity. It is the land of Never Enough. It is the mindset of self-preservation and self-protectiveness. Fear stops us cold in our tracks. We become like a snail, pulled safely up into our shell and we move through life slowly, head tucked under for protection.

The opposite of fear is faith. Faith operates according to the principle of abundance. It is the Land of Plenty. It is the mindset of beauty, generosity, collaboration, ingenuity, and expansiveness. Contrasting the two—faith and fear—you can see that these are two different, opposite states of being and seeing. They each have a different physical address, so to speak. The important question becomes, which camp do you live in?

When life gets difficult we are given the opportunity to see where we live. We may think we live in the Land of Abundance, but when stressors appear whether they are personal, business, or economy related, it becomes clear by our responses what our core beliefs about the universe really are.

You cannot simultaneously live in fear and faith. We must choose which camp we are going to operate our lives from. We look at fear as an emotion, but in reality it is really a mindset. We may experience anxiety, but what we choose to do with this emotion determines whether we choose to embrace abundance or whether we embrace scarcity.

Circumstances really have nothing to do with whether the universe is abundant or not. It is an abundant universe and God is an abundant Creator. Source has never experienced a lack of resources! We, on the other hand, have difficulty viewing life through a clear lens. It is clouded by false beliefs about the universe, personal wounding, and disrupting emotions.

Moving out of fear into faith is one the important tasks on the Spiritual Path. It happens by developing an on-going relationship with the Source of abundance. Daily spiritual practice is key to developing a mindset and heart relationship that clears the lens of our understanding and opens our eyes to the spiritual abundance available to us.

Ask the Spirit for “eyes that see and ears that hear”. We are promised that if we ask we will receive. It is through spiritual eyesight that we are given the ability to see a wealth of abundance when others are seeing only scarcity.

When Jesus fed a multitude of over 5,000 with a small sack lunch, it was because he had the mindset of abundance and was connected to the Source of abundance. The spiritual laws of the universe are still the same today. Ask that you might receive. Seek so that you might find. Knock on the door and it will be opened.

Tigger--Experiencing the Power of Now

2008-07-13T07:22:00.001-07:00