Walking the Labyrinth (revisited)

My husband and I rose early this morning and walked the labyrinth, as we do every New Years' Eve.  Along with treasure mapping, walking the labyrinth is one of our traditions for acknowledging the gifts of the past year, and for creating our vision of the year ahead.

I love walking the labyrinth!  It really is a sacred space.  We now have one in the city where I live, which is handy because in past years we've had to drive about an hour to get to one.  I'll be able to use this very gentle but powerful spiritual tool more often now.

I've reprinted below my post from last January on walking the labyrinth.  You can use this link to the World-Wde Labyrinth Locator to find a labyrinth near you; I hope the post spurs you to try it.  And if so, I'd love to hear your comments.

After a year of writing this blog, I want to say thank you for your support, and for your very positive and insightful comments.  I am grateful for the light you shine in the world.

Sharing the song in my heart has been a huge gift.  I look forward to celebrating daily tools for the spirit in the coming year.

Many blessings in the New Year!
Sherry

*****

I walked the labyrinth today with my husband, Mike, and my son, Eric.  Bless Eric for driving the hour it takes to get there, just because he knew it was important to his parents.

I love walking into the labyrinth and having the strong awareness of myself as eternal spirit, at the very same time I hear the traffic going by, see workmen moving around and the cracks in the sidewalk, all of the countless small details of inhabiting a body. I love knowing myself as eternal spirit as my path passes by Mike's or Eric's on the labyrinth and I am aware of sharing space with them for a moment, then moving on on our own paths, but each of us always contained by that bigger circle which contains all perfect paths.

While walking the labyrinth, no matter what direction I'm heading or how many twists and turns I take along the way, I'm always moving toward the center, where I know in the center of myself, in my heart, that I am God in expression. In the middle of all of the twists and turns of the labyrinth, the center stands.

Each experience I've had in the labyrinth has been different. I've been guided each time to remember just what was important for me at that time. This last time, I was reminded that All Is Well. In the middle of all of the big issues facing humanity in general and all of us individually, I can be glad for all of it because there is a mighty purpose behind it. All paths lead to an awareness of ourselves as God, without exception.

I remembered that pain is part of the dichotomy that we live in, and aids us in knowing joy. We can never really grasp and own for ourselves one side of a dichotomy until we have fully known the other.

Best of all, for me, was remembering yet again that there is nothing I need to do, no burden I need to carry to fix things. We are all the light of God. We can be nothing else. Everything we experience is contained by and part of that light of God, just like the circle of the labyrinth contains all paths leading to our knowledge of ourselves as God, and light.

What that means for me practically, in this new year, is that I don't have to suffer over what is. What is, is, and it serves a mighty purpose, one that I can trust. It's not easy to see the light in the middle of the darkness, but this year I choose to look for the good in all of it. I am grateful for the light that contains it all.

(In case you're interested, Mike read a book on labyrinths recently. It's called "Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool." I haven't read it yet, but he liked it alot.)

Here's to the light!

Honoring Your Gifts

During this time of year, many of us are aware of all that we have to be grateful for.  Some may have had more time to spend with family and friends.  Those who celebrate Christmas likely had presents waiting under the tree, and exchanged gifts with important people in their lives.

It is a time of many gifts, but the truth is that we live all of our lives in the midst of a legacy of treasure.  It’s easy in a busy life to let much of this amazing bounty go unnoticed, so that we miss out on the true magnitude of what we’ve been given.

Every single day, we wake.  We breathe.  The sun rises.  Whether we revel in these things or not is a choice we’re given to make.  Our ability to choose what we hold as real, and what we attend to, is probably the biggest gift of all.

We are here, luminous expressions of perfect consciousness, bringing that light to physical form.  When we wake, God has the experience of beginning another day.  When the sun rises, God delights in the goodness of her creations.  And when we breathe, God is awed by her body’s perfect dance through all of it.

When we turn our attention to all that is right in our lives, and in the world, we help make it so.  As we honor all of our many gifts, we create space for our own, and others', abundance.  It is our conscious acknowledgement of and gratitude for the limitless good that we're a part of that creates it in our daily experience.

So in the new year let us appreciate and nurture the gifts we've been given.  Look for the good that hides behind your most challenging situations.  Take care of what’s important, and remember that awareness is the goal, not perfection.  

Choose as often as you can to see the light of God expressing in everyone you encounter.  Make a list every day of all that you're grateful for.  Take time to notice the small things that bring joy.  Do what you need to do to take good care of your body, that most holy temple of the soul’s expression.  And find a way every day to connect with the light of God within yourself.

May you dance through 2011 in joy and abundance, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Joy!

It’s impossible for me not to be touched by joy during this time of year.  I love every part of it.  From Halloween on, I am deeply aware of the days becoming shorter and another year coming to a close, creating time for rest, and for the amazing grace of being reborn into a new and hallowed cycle of ongoing creation.

I feel the energy of this time of the year in my body, as a sense of settling in to the peace in my heart.  My body somehow feels more connected and alive as I begin to release what has transpired in the past year to make room for the new.  Even in this period of winter’s rest, my body responds in anticipation as I begin to open to the miracles that will manifest in the months ahead.

Every year for many years, on New Year’s Eve, my husband, my kids, and their significant others sit together around our dining room table and create treasure maps.  Even in those years when our kids aren’t at home, my husband and I always end the year by creating our treasure maps for what we envision creating in the coming year, and it’s become a tradition in our family.  (I wrote a post on treasure mapping back in January in case you’ve never done one.)  It is a time of fun, connection and creativity, and of great joy.

Through all of the ups and downs of the last year, I’ve done my best.  I’ve embraced this precious year and experienced so much good stuff I can’t even put it into words.  I’ve loved and laughed and felt emotions that ranged from deliciously giddy to achingly painful.  I’ve raced around in non-stop motion and surrendered to the regenerating power of sleep.  I’ve taught quite a bit, but learned much more.

I find myself in this 12^th month of the year looking at all I have created, and it is good.  So now I rest for just a bit to enjoy it, and the season helps me do that.  And spirit within me celebrates another sacred year of being here, as one unique expression of the divine.   

I am, and there is no bigger joy than that.

May your heart know the joy of your Being, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Solving Problems From a Higher Level

One of my favorite universal truths is that we can’t solve a problem from the energy of the problem.  It has helped me countless times manifest a higher outcome by getting out of my own way, and allowing divine intelligence to work its magic.

Solving a problem from a higher place means first acknowledging, and then trusting, that within us resides the perfect solution to any issue that reflects less than our perfect good.  It helps to remember that we are created of the same vast consciousness that created all perfect answers, every loving act, and every moment of inspiration or guidance.  Vast and unlimited awareness of good is not only something we can access in moments of need, it is who we are, at our core, when the veil of human forgetting is gently swept aside.  We are never separate from divine intelligence; it lives as us.

Deciding to manage a problem from a higher vibration can take a good deal of faith, and perseverance, because sometimes it can be very difficult to surrender our worry about a problem.  Every bit of human programming we have tells us that we need to stew, and fuss, and worry, until we solve the situation.  In some cases, a great deal of fear can be involved, which makes turning over the problem to divine intelligence within us even harder to do.  When we are in a lot of fear, we identify with that, rather than divine intelligence from which we are created.

When we turn the details of a problem over and over in our minds, we are stuck in the energy of the problem.  When we continue to relive a conversation or situation in our thinking, expecting that we will somehow get a handle on it, what happens instead is that it just grabs more of our attention.  More and more of our awareness is sucked into a problem vibration.  This is not helpful.

What is helpful is remembering, when the what-ifs and oh-my-God’s that fear speaks are getting me nowhere but upset, that I always have a choice in what truth I will serve.  Even when the voice of fear is loud, I choose to serve the truth of God’s infinite good, living as me.

And as my heart fills with the grace of remembering, I am connected with all that I need to create my own highest good.  My decisions are aligned with a rightness that I not only sense but feel in my heart, and right down to my bones.  My burden is light, and I am blessed beyond measure.

May your burden be light, and your blessings many.  And may this tool be a blessing.

Bringing the Crown Chakra to Gold

The 7th chakra, or crown chakra, at the top of our heads, contains the seat of our knowing.  It is the energy center from which we connect with our deepest truth.  When we pull information seemingly “off the top of our heads,” the crown chakra is being accessed.

The crown chakra, like the other chakras and layers of the aura, can be affected by external vibrations of energy that don’t necessarily belong, but become “stuck” there, so to speak.  When outside energy affects the crown, we lose our clarity, and we can feel like we’re having a hard time finding our way.  We can lose our certainty in our ability to create the outcomes that are truly worthy of us as unlimited creators made in God’s image.

One simple tool for clearing the crown chakra is to “bring it up to gold.”  The color gold is to many the vibration of our highest truth, the hand of God in all things.  To me, it represents that vibration that overrides anything that is less than perfect good.

Bringing the crown chakra up to gold resets that spiritual center to the awareness of the best and highest that we can imagine.  Within this vibration is our deepest peace, our most profound joy, abundant health and limitless creativity.

To bring your crown chakra up to gold:

1. Sit quietly, close your eyes, and allow yourself to relax by breathing deeply and comfortably for a few minutes.
2. In your mind’s eye, begin to picture the top of your head, and visualize in any way that you’d like the 7^th chakra that resides there.  (You might see this as a cone shape with the point toward your feet.  I usually visualize it as a spinning sphere, just because that’s how I started seeing it.  Or you might just picture the top of your own head and know that your chakra is there.)
3. Then, in your imagination, which is our most important tool for creating, picture yourself taking a paintbrush in hand, dipping it into a bucket of bright gold paint, and thoroughly painting your 7th chakra in gold.
4. When it feels complete, take a few more deep breaths and notice any changes in how you feel.  Open your eyes to a new awareness!

I love this tool!  It's simple, and silly, and an infinitely powerful expression of God within us.  Every time I practice it, I am reborn in truth.  In any moment, we can make the choice to reset our experience to a much higher vibration.   And in that moment, we are reborn to the spirit of God within us.

May you create your experience with a child's wonder, and may this this tool be a blessing. . .

Being in Present Time

I’ve said that for every challenge there is a spiritual tool that will bring us back to the light of truth.  My tool for today is being present!

Right now, in this moment, I sit watching the lights on our Christmas tree twinkle on and off in random patterns, and I remember another December evening 21 years ago watching these same lights twinkling.  I was very pregnant and peaceful, and joyfully aware of how immensely right things are in the world.

In this moment all is well.  There is no way to know exactly what the next moment will bring, but right now my feet are up, my tummy is full, and there is nothing I need do but enjoy the peace that those familiar lights, and ornaments, bring to me.

In this moment I breathe; my heart beats.  I am, and that is all I need.  The concerns of the day may arise in another moment, but that moment is not now.

Only in present time can we fully experience the magic of this beloved existence.  It isn’t always easy to keep our focus on the current moment, because life is full of needs and wants and what-ifs that take us out into the future, or back into the past.

A dear friend forwarded me an email recently that said, in part, “There is no situation too big to handle; just put one foot in front of the other.”  What a perfect sentiment for being in present time. 

The past is gone, and I don’t know what the future will bring.  But I can be here right now, with this next step, and the next.  One step at a time, I create my own perfect dance, in time with the twinkling light of my soul.  

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Learning From Our Children

I like to think that I have imparted some important and valued life lessons to my children.  I know that I have, and can think of no accomplishment in my life that is more worthy.

As much as I have taught, I have learned from them as well, and the things they have taught me are valuable beyond measure.  From my daughter, Mara, one of the really wonderful things I have learned is the importance of saying what I mean, and not shying away from speaking my truth.  That’s not to say that I do this all the time, but as someone who’s always been pretty reserved, I’m making good progress.  Mara is a very brave woman, and I admire her very much.

One of the treasured lessons I have received from my daughter, Brittany, is to look for the good.  Brittany is one of the most positive people I know, moving happily and gently through life, seeming to always look for the silver lining in every cloud.  What an amazing gift that is.

The lessons I learned from my children began almost immediately.  They didn’t need to be grown up people to be wise beyond measure.  I remember one night when my son, Eric, was two.  I was tucking him into bed, as I did every night.  I had recently started clairvoyant training, and was experiencing one paradigm shift after another as my awareness was being expanded to a much larger reality than I had previously known. 

I had been doing past life readings at the Institute where I studied, and it was rocking my world, to say the least.  I’d never really thought too much about past lives, or what eternity really meant in terms of a spirit’s expression.   My believing was trying to catch up with what I was “seeing”.

Enter my wise and very verbal two-year-old son, who said that evening out of the blue, “Mommy, do you remember when we were babies together, and we were laying on that blanket on the floor touching each other’s faces?”  There was my sacred lesson and my instant answer, that the past lives I had been seeing were real, and more importantly, that I could trust this new awareness of the clairvoyant space in the center of my head.

I’m happy to say that the lessons from my children continue.  I’ve been struggling with a personal issue, and feeling pretty reactive to it.  This morning I was “chatting” via text message with Eric, who is now almost 21, and he was telling me about how he is doing.  It made me infinitely happy to hear that he “is just very conscious of setting the energy to how I want it to be every morning.” 

His profound and simple words of conscious creativity were just the ones I needed to hear, to remember how to proceed in the face of a challenge.  I helped teach him that, and today I learned it again from him.

We continue to teach, and remind each other, of truth, and of the best in life.  I am deeply honored to know God through her perfect expression as my children.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

The Gratitude List

A friend of mine explained to me that one of her spiritual practices, each night before bed, is to write a list of everything that she is thankful for. She calls it her "Gratitude List."  I love this idea, and when I practice it my body immediately feels lighter as my awareness expands to include all that is possible.  It is a perfect tool to consider as we celebrate Thanksgiving today in the United States.

The state of being thankful increases our capacity for good things. It allows us to validate the positive and make room for more of it. Studies have shown how gratitude affects our bodies, easing the tension brought on by worry, lowering blood pressure and enhancing our immune system. I have begun talking about a gratitude list as a tool for some of the people I work with around stress-related illness. I notice how quickly their breathing slows and their faces soften, as they realize they can stop fighting what's wrong in their lives and acknowledge that they have a choice about what in their experience they emphasize.

Thankfulness or gratitude is a choice. A person I know who often struggles with not having enough money had been telling me that he was about to be homeless because he couldn't pay the rent. A short time later, he told me about getting some money unexpectedly, so he was able to stay. He then went on to talk about how bad things are for him, barely making it by the skin of his teeth. His thoughts of lack are creating alot of difficulty. What he didn't even see was the tremendous gift he had just been given, in getting the money he needed! What we put our attention on, we cause to grow in our lives.

Our lives are meant to glorify the creator within. Holding on to limiting beliefs does not honor what is most true about us. In any situation of seeming lack, whether it be not enough money, not enough time or love or recognition, we are able to change our perspective and the course of our lives. Cultivating a feeling of gratitude instantly changes our experience from one of disappointment and wanting to one of creativity and abundance.

My gratitude list is long, and tonight I plan to rewrite it. I don't mind that when I rewrite it many of the same things come up each time, because I can appreciate and validate them yet again. In acknowledging the good in my life, I make room for more.

Be thankful for your gifts, large and small. Don't let them go unnoticed. Just behind every belief in lack lies our ability to consciously look for the good. That is our birthright, and worth being thankful about. Through it all, we live. We laugh and cry and strive and wonder. Our hearts beat on, allowing us the miracle of expressing the divine through our own unique humanness.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

(reposted for Thanksgiving)

Pulling the Aura In

I was reminded recently about the tool of pulling the aura in.  This tool can make our spirit much more comfortable navigating through the physical body.  Thank Goodness for spiritual tools!

The aura contains one's spiritual energy.  It is often thought of as the part of the spiritual energy that spills over outside of the body.  The aura has seven layers, and each of them corresponds to a chakra, or energy center, in the body.

Our energy centers are sensory in many ways.  Through them we experience feeling emotions, "seeing" energy as colors or pictures, or just "knowing," among other things.

The layers or the aura, and our chakras, can become overwhelmed with information if our aura becomes too big.  In general, keeping the aura pulled in to about 18 inches or so from the outside of the body is comfortable.  Consider the idea that we are affected by all of the energies going on around us to the degree that our aura is "taking it in."  The larger the aura, the more we have to take in, and then manage energetically.

Most of the time we don't recognize that all of the energetic "input" we receive really doesn't have anything to do with us.  We feel or sense something within ourselves, and assume that it must have to do with us.  Often that is not the case.

If we have inadvertently let our aura become as big as a room, or the entire house, we will be affected by all of the energies that are active there.  If someone is feeling frustrated or angry or depressed, we will pick it up and feel as if we need to do something to fix it.  Sometimes it doesn't feel like there's any other choice because we feel those emotions as if they are our own.

That is not to say that we don't want to be sensitive to what others, and our world, are going through.  But there are much more comfortable and healthy ways to heal what is going on around us, if we choose to.

First of all, ground your body and allow yourself to release.  (I wrote a blog called "Releasing" which describes this in detail.)

After you are grounded, allow yourself, in your mind's eye, to see, or with your knowing, to sense, how far out from your body your aura is.  If it encompasses a room, or your neighborhood, or your entire work environment, or someone else's environment, try pulling it in closer around you, so that it is about 18 inches from your body.

After we have pulled the aura in, we can set our intention, and create in any way that works for us.  By doing so we are able to be less affected by the vast barrage of energy that we encounter in a day, and to remain more clear, healthy and grounded as we create in the world.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Blessed Be Your Name

I wrote recently about fighting the good fight, and about faith.  The following beautiful song from Unity seems fitting.  This morning, for me, it's a prayer. . .

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Visualization

What we think, our bodies perceive as real. What we hold in mind affects the body very directly, on a moment-to-moment basis. We’ve moved beyond the spiritual awareness of a deep connection between mind and body to a point where science is able to confirm what we have known intuitively for some time.

Our thoughts create vibrations of energy within the body which the body immediately responds to. The energy of our thoughts then manifests from the inner universe of our bodies out into the greater physical world around us. In essence, we are what we think.

Consider sitting at home watching a very scary movie on TV. The things we watch on TV create thoughts that gear the body up into fight-or-flight mode, but we’re not really threatened. We’re sitting there safe and comfortable in the living room, where our thoughts alone are creating the dramatic change in our body chemistry, and causing the fearful response.

Our bodies react to our thoughts in this way throughout every moment of our lives. Worry or fear-based thoughts trigger a stress reaction in the body which can have long-lasting effects on our health and well-being. Over time these effects can become chronic.

In the same way, we can use our thoughts to trigger a relaxation response in the body. Our thoughts can actually be a vehicle for health and healing, and for enhancing our quality of life.

One very effective way to use our thoughts to positively affect our bodies is through visualization. When we make a conscious choice to hold in mind thoughts that are peaceful, grateful, joyful, or whatever we want to have in that moment, our bodies respond automatically. When we can add a picture in our imagination to our thinking, the effect on the body is enhanced.

A simple visualization technique is as follows:

1. Sit quietly with eyes closed and begin to focus on your breathing. Take a few minutes to allow your breathing to become comfortable, deep and regular.
2. In your mind’s eye, begin to visualize yourself in a place that is very peaceful and relaxing. It can be a place that you have been before, or some place that you would like to visit someday.
3. See this place in your mind’s eye as if you are there, filling in all of the details that would make it even more relaxing and enjoyable. Notice what is under your feet and above your head, and all around you.
4. Allow your senses to take part, noticing any sounds or smells that are there, or the feel of the wind blowing across your skin if you are outside.
5. Stay there in your mind’s eye for as long as is comfortable, and then open your eyes feeling at peace.

I teach this much-used technique in the stress management class that I lead at work, and also use it myself. Yesterday, as I sat for a time visualizing myself sitting on the shore of a small mountain lake where we backpack in the summer, I found my body responding to the incredibly peaceful feelings I have when we go there.

We are what we think, and we can use the powerful connection between mind and body to create peace in any moment.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Fighting the Good Fight

Although this phrase originated as an evangelical call to believe in and spread the Christian faith, I have heard it recently used in a broader spiritual context. There are apparently also Greek, Norse, East Indian and perhaps other viewpoints about the meaning of the phrase.

It led me to wonder what, exactly, fighting the good fight means to me. The original term, fighting the good fight of faith, is fitting, because it can sometimes feel like a fight to remain in faith. Even the most faithful among us encounter times when we question all that we hold true, and those times of doubting everything that we’ve believed about our very existence can leave us deeply shaken. This is as it is meant to be, for in those times we are forced to release our preconceptions and open our hearts even more to the truth of our being.

Fighting the good fight could simply mean holding on to faith, no matter what. It might be a dogged determination, regardless of what’s happening in the world, how capable we’re feeling in the moment, or what others' opinions of us are, to remember God’s light expressing in and through all that we experience.

I read an interesting take on fighting the good fight based on the book Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho, in which Veronica apparently decides to attempt suicide in order to escape a life of every day being the same as the one before. In doing so, she damages her body enough to have only five days left to live, and regrets her decision after realizing that she had never really made any choices to fully live her life. I haven't read the book, but plan to, as I dearly loved his book, The Alchemist.

In this context, fighting the good fight is consciously choosing to fight complacence. It is deciding on a life abundantly lived, in which we accept the added risks of failure and loss in exchange for a bounty of delicious experience.

It makes me think of that fun email that comes around every now and then: “The purpose of life’s journey is not to arrive at the end with a well-preserved body, but rather to slide in sideways, completely used up, yelling, ‘What a ride!’” I like this way of thinking about fighting the good fight!

Fighting the good fight can also simply mean choosing at all times to do our best, whatever that is in the moment. For me, doing my best does include choosing faith in God’s good in all that comes to pass.

It means living in a way that creates few regrets. Fighting the good fight, and doing our best, is being someone who encourages others to do better and be better, and striving to be the kind of person who others are better for having known.

May you always fight your own good fight, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

More Synchronicity

I love the idea that synchronicity is playing out around us all the time, as part of the divine intelligence that moves us ever forward toward our awareness of ourselves as human expressions of God’s perfection.

Synchronicity works through us, and for us, in ways we often don’t even notice. Seemingly unfortunate events lead to unforeseen positive outcomes, and seemingly random events that are really part of a bigger plan connect us with our good.

An auto accident, after all of the inconvenient details of working with insurance companies and searching for a new car are finished, ends up providing us with a nicer, more reliable car. A conversation with an acquaintance we bump into in the supermarket ends up planting a seed in our awareness about how we can move forward with a long-held dream we’ve had.

Many people have read the stories of people who for some reason were supposed to be in the World Trade Center on September 11, but because of a sick child, or even a broken heel on a shoe, were kept away on that day. For those people those simple events were not random, but part of their perfect path in ongoing creation.

Like all things having to do with learning to navigate as spirits through these physical bodies, the more aware we are of the synchronous nature of our universe, the better able we are to harness its power in guiding us to create our best lives.

Listening for the gentle promptings of a perfect universe can be enlivening, and fun! It is at the crux of our connection with the purely creative essence that guides all of life. We have to be sitting squarely in the present moment to even notice synchronicity playing out in our days. And we definitely need to be fully present to be able to hear where divine and perfect order is guiding our next steps.

Some people experience their connection with synchronicity by trusting their sixth sense. With practice, we can become more adept at noticing the subtle messages we receive in our bodies when that six sense seeks to guide us toward our greater good.

In my own life, I’ve experienced synchronicity by heeding a gentle hunch to do something in a different way than I had planned. At those times, it would have been very easy to disregard my quiet intuition in favor of following the track that my much louder thinking was stuck on.

I’ve said before that I write to remember. So today I remember to let my moments unfold one by one. And I will listen for my heart’s quiet direction as I walk my path this day. I will pay attention as my heart says, “no, not that way, go here,” in its soft voice that is almost a whisper, part voice, part feeling. I will listen as my spirit’s voice speaks through the quickened feelings and gentle voice of my heart.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

A little Synchronicity from a Friend

Corine, from Everyday Gyaan, had her own experience with synchronicity and I thought you might like to read about it.  Blessings, Sherry

Non-Doing

I love the statement by Jon Kabat-Zinn in his book, Wherever You Go, There You Are, that “it takes great courage and energy to cultivate non-doing, both in stillness and in activity.” I would add that it also takes lots of practice!

I recognize the gifts inherent in cultivating non-doing, but in our doing-oriented world, it is often difficult to just be. One would think that ceasing doing for awhile would be the easiest thing in the world, a simple choice to make. It is a choice, but one often fraught with repercussions when things are expected of us.

It does take courage to keep reminding ourselves that the panic to get things done is part of the world, but not who we are. And it can feel like a big leap of faith to fully accept things exactly as they are, and with ourselves as we are, trusting that all is as it should be. It always takes courage to place our trust in a higher, unseen truth.

It also takes a lot of energy to stick with it, to be in the world, and immersed in our days, but constantly remembering to reset our reality to one that for the most part doesn’t mesh with what is around us. As Kabat-Zinn says, “The doing mode is usually so strong in us that the cultivation of non-doing ironically takes considerable effort.” Sometimes, rather than going with the flow of life's hectic pace, we need to make a conscious decision to just stop.

When we do choose to stop and just be for a moment, the awareness that nothing else is really needed but our presence in our experience can bring immense joy and clarity. It is a great paradox that we can also choose non-doing in our activity as we take our steps throughout the day, fulfilling our roles and being the people who we are.

According to Kabat-Zinn, “Non-doing doesn’t have to be threatening to people who feel they always need to get things done. They might find they get even more “done”,” and done better, by practicing non-doing.” “Non-doing simply means letting things be and allowing them to unfold in their own way.”

Words to live by!  And I am, as always, grateful for the reminder.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

I Am Not I . . .

A beautiful quote, worth sharing, from Juan Ramon Jimenez:

I am not I. . .
I am this one walking beside me whom I do not see.
Whom at times I manage to visit, and at other times I forget.
The one who remains silent when I talk, the one who forgives, sweet, when I hate.
The one who takes a walk when I am indoors.
The one who will remain standing when I die.

May you know the one who walks beside you, and may you be blessed this day.

Being Willing

My husband and I are in the midst of Unity’s yearly fall book study program, spending treasured time once a week with a group of spiritual seekers and kindred spirits.  While willingness isn’t a specific topic in the book we’re studying, the idea of being willing came up last week, and I was grateful for the reminder about this important spiritual tool.

All forms of unforeseen assistance result from a decision to, if nothing else, just be willing.  In life we face many different situations in which we are unsure how to proceed, or are not sure that we know how to accomplish what is expected of us, or what we hope ourselves to be capable of.  There are times when what we envision is so very different from what we’ve known ourselves or the world to be that our seemingly lofty hopes can seem like pipe dreams.  In all of these times, being willing opens our hearts and our minds to divine intelligence that will find a way for good regardless of how things appear on the surface.

The limitless creative potential that exists in each of us is quickened by our willingness.  In those rough times when we feel stuck or lost and can think of no appropriate course of action, being willing to just consider the possibility that there is a perfect answer to our need can allow the universe to work its magic on our behalf. 

Being willing to suspend our judgment and preconceived notions for just a moment makes room for the seeds of a higher reality to take hold.  An example might be feeling deeply unable to forgive someone, even though we might want to.  A decision in that moment to just try to be willing to forgive creates a subtle but vast shift in what we are capable of, and who we know ourselves to be.  We can change the world by just being willing.

In making a decision to be willing, we don’t have to be perfect.  We don’t even have to trust that we will be able to do what we’re hoping to do.  We can be ever so gentle with ourselves, and honor our humanity, by acknowledging that even when things seem the most fraught with limitation, we can stop fighting and surrender to our willingness.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Spontaneity

My husband and I had planned to spend last night taking care of some financial planning details, but on a whim we decided to put our Halloween costumes together instead. We’re going to be superheroes, in blue sweat outfits with red boxer briefs over the top, and red capes. We’re going to look completely ridiculous, which of course is what we’re aiming for.

I’m grateful that he and I are both pretty comfortable with changing plans. We definitely don’t get the “need to’s” done as quickly as we could. And sometimes I do feel like we just need to dig in and spend a few weekends checking off the items on the to-do list. But in the end what really needs to get done on any given day always manages to get done.

There will always be chores to do, lists to write, and any number of small tasks to finish. We could spend an entire long life focusing on details, and miss all of the opportunities that come from following our hearts and being spontaneous.

My husband has taught me a lot about being spontaneous. He’s always been good at it. I tend to be much more linear, and used to believe that I should get my work done before goofing off. But I’ve learned that the moments I spend doing what I “should” do won’t be the ones I remember. I’ll remember the nights we decided on the spur of the moment to walk up into the nearby hills with a bottle of wine to watch the sunset, or to run fully-clothed through the sprinklers in the park when we were out walking the dog.

I find that it’s a tricky balance, making time to take care of the necessary details, deciding what can wait until later, and then really letting go of what I thought had to get done so that I can enjoy the adventure of the moment. What’s different now is that I err on the side of enjoying the adventure, and I’m fine about that!

May you find joy in unplanned moments, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Handling Problems From a Higher Vibration

It always amazes me how when I make a spiritual discovery, I often have to forget and then remember it countless times before it becomes ingrained as the truth that shapes my expression. I am reminded of a spiritual truth that I have known for many years, but tend to easily forget when it really counts, which is that “you can’t solve a problem from the energy of the problem.”

Our human tendency is to approach any type of problem in terms of the challenges that it’s causing, and then respond with frustration, anger, resistance, or whatever seems warranted at the moment. It’s difficult to think our way through to a solution, because in focusing on everything that’s wrong, we actually breathe more life into the problem, and cause it to persist.

It is said that what we hold in mind manifests in kind. Managing a problem is a great example of how this plays out as we move through our experiences. As long as I am reliving in my mind the problem at hand, I am holding it in my awareness, and there is no space for resolution.

Part of our journey here in physical form is to forget that we are part of a divine intelligence that creates all that happens for our good. Our gifts come from the choices that we make about how we respond to what we are faced with. Our most holy gift is our ability to choose.

We can choose to repeatedly focus our energy on the details of an issue and what we need to do to make it better, or we can handle it from a higher vibration, by turning it over to the perfect intelligence of God within.

There is no issue, no worry, no problem large or small that we can’t turn over to God within. In doing so, we get out of our own way and make room for the best and highest outcome in any situation.

When I am aligned with this truth, my moments are filled with a deep peace and life-affirming joy. I remember then that all is as it should be, and there is nothing that I have to do. Just being here, and experiencing my moments, is all there is. I am aware that everything, absolutely everything, in my experience is happening for good.

May you raise your burdens to the truth of God’s light within you, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Sitting With Discomfort

It is human nature to try to avoid discomfort in all forms. We learn early on in life to be careful with our physical selves, keeping our hands away from fire, or walking carefully down stairs so we don’t fall down. A little later on, we learn to minimize emotional pain by perhaps not speaking up when we should so we don’t feel rejected, or maybe agreeing with something that is not our truth in order to feel accepted.

While it makes sense to want to minimize pain, we can do this to a point where we end up shutting ourselves off from our deepest feelings, and also our greatest opportunities for growth.

It isn’t easy to sit with confusion or disagreement or disappointment, let them exist, and just experience our reactions to them. I know I always want to jump in and fix the issue as quickly as possible so I’m not uncomfortable anymore. But I’m learning that many of the things that cause me discomfort are due to things beyond my control, and I need to let them be. In my striving to change the energy of a situation, all I end up doing is getting myself off center.

One way we shut ourselves off from fully processing our experiences and receiving their gifts is by placing our focus outside of ourselves. When I am spinning about circumstances around me, who said this or did that, I cannot be sitting with my own experience. Sometimes it’s more comfortable to focus my thinking on what others are doing.   While it may be frustrating and painful, thinking and spinning about what others are doing is often less frustrating and painful than actually deeply feeling my own feelings about what is taking place.

If I try to think my way through something uncomfortable, I may stew for awhile and then feel as if it’s over, but really I’ve just pushed it under the surface. Over a lifetime we can build up so much unacknowledged emotional pain that we begin to see everything through its lens.

I really like the idea that the only way through something is through it. Avoidance doesn’t help, and as they say, resistance is futile. When we start shutting off our uncomfortable experiences, we shut down our ability to feel all emotions, the painful stuff and the joyful stuff. Uncomfortable things will always happen, and the experience of them provides the impetus we need to open our hearts to the profound miracle in all of life’s ups and downs.

An interesting example of this that I heard about recently involves a group of people who were studied regarding their response to the discomfort of holding a hand in extremely cold water. One group was instructed to focus their attention on what they were feeling in their hand. The other group was asked to focus their attention on something pleasant, such as a warm beach in Hawaii. The group that stayed with the pain they felt actually processed it more quickly and easily.

If I sit with my discomfort and give it the space it needs to be fully experienced, I can eventually let it go. In the meantime, while I am in that process of integrating what I need to learn from the discomfort, I validate it as part of what it means to be human. And I remember the hand of God in all of it.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Prosperity

In these challenging economic times, it can be tough to stay centered in the truth that we can live in prosperity. I’ve noticed how easy it is for me to get caught up in the fear of the day, and I start wondering how bad things will get, or if our financial future is secure.

It helps to remember that prosperity, like all other possible experiences in this life, is a creative choice. It is, at its core, a vibration of energy. We attract things to ourselves based on what we believe to be true about us. We can “vibrate” at prosperity, or at a lack of prosperity. Interestingly, what we believe we can have, do or be often comes from parents, teachers, our community, or other people we’ve encountered along the way, and is not our own deepest truth about ourselves.

As with all things, our thoughts and beliefs about prosperity form what transpires in our experience of it. When we acknowledge the truth of ourselves as empowered to create our heart’s desires, always connected to the flow of divine intelligence, it is made manifest in our lives.

We can live abundantly in many ways. We can enjoy good health, joy, wisdom, or wealth, among other things. Financial prosperity and abundance have long been seen as non-spiritual, and not in alignment with expressing our Godselves.

We are meant to experience ourselves as unlimited creators manifesting all of the good that we can envision for ourselves and our world. We glorify God when we live in alignment with that ideal, doing our best, creating our highest, and then blessing it as good. We bless it as good with our gratitude.

I was reminded of the power of gratitude in a recent article on the DailyOM website. It spoke of a practice that I intend to start in my own life, when I do that seemingly-mundane activity of paying my bills. Paying bills can feel like a chore, and can also lead us to feel less-than-prosperous if we have a bit too much month at the end of the money. The DailyOM article provided a great way to look at it:

“We may not always recognize simply paying a bill as prosperity in action, but it is. We can make it a spiritual practice and align ourselves with the energy of giving and receiving when we give thanks for having the ability to pay for it. We can then extend our view far beyond the horizons of our own lives to imagine all the employees whose paychecks are paid from our resources. We can imagine all the bills they can pay and how they support their families and share with their friends.

This exercise gives us an idea of how far our financial energy reaches out into the world. When you can envision every financial transaction as a grateful act of generosity today and every day, you cannot help but attract more abundance into your life.” Amen!

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Laughter

I’m not talking about a chuckle, although that’s great, too. I’m talking about the giant laugh that catches you off guard in its volume and delight, the laugh that leaves you wiping tears from your cheeks and feeling wonderfully spent.

It is said that “a smile starts on the lips, a grin spreads to the eyes, a chuckle comes from the belly, but a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, overflows, and bubbles all round.” That is the laughter that makes us, and everyone around us, happy to be alive.

Another old saying holds that laughter is the best medicine, and that has to be true, especially considering the effect that our thoughts and moods have on our bodies. Surely the glee that we feel after a good laugh affects us physically. Every cell in our body is healed when we experience positive emotions, and laughter overflowing is the physical expression of positive emotions that are just too delightful to hold inside.

I dearly love having my funny bone tickled. Once in awhile one of the stand-up comedians on the comedy network will deliver just the right brand of comedy, and I can’t get enough. I’ll stay up late, not even minding that I’ll probably be tired in the morning. Watching my husband sitting next to me laughing adds a whole lot to the total entertainment package.

There are certain people in my life who I laugh a lot with. My sister is one of them. Maybe it’s because we grew up together and know each other so well. But laughing is one of the things we do often, and well. Other people watching us would probably think we’re loopy, and I’m sure they wouldn’t think that the source of our amusement is at all funny. When we get in that mood it doesn’t take much, and then it’s all downhill to unbridled hilarity, which can be a whole lot of fun.

I’ll end with another saying about laughter, which is that it’s like aerobics for the soul. In our joy and laughter, our souls recognize themselves, and we are home.

May you laugh loud and often, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Sending Them On...

I heard a quote the other day from Unity's Daily Word that touched me, but before I share it with you let me explain why I liked it so much.  The day before, at work, I had facilitated a support group that I do regularly.  It's a support group for people with diabetes, and I've been leading it for almost 10 years.  It's grown alot in that time.  I've always loved watching as the participants grow comfortable enough to share their feelings, and how they inspire and learn from each other.

Leading that group is a joy and a challenge.  There is a huge discrepancy in people's needs, perspectives and awareness.  Creating an environment in which such a diverse group all feel welcome and accepted tests me, and at times wears me out.

Part of what I do leading groups is consciously set the energy.  I set my own vibration at being open and accepting, and model that.  I set the energy of the group at being inclusive, effective and positive.  Mostly it works!  It's a pretty successful group.

Even still, in all groups that have been together awhile, there are some participants who others resist.  One particular man last week was annoying the others, interrupting, being negative, falling asleep and snoring loudly when others were speaking, which he does fairly often.

I noticed myself beginning to resist this man, as I got stuck in feeling like I had to control the situation, and him.  I felt the familiar frustration that comes with resistance, and the invalidation that comes with feeling out of control.  When I got home I still felt frustrated and invalidated.

And so I finally get to the point of the story:  the quote, and how we leave people.  The next morning, as I was getting ready to go to work with very little enthusiasm, divine intelligence provided my answer to me in a gentle and perfect way, as it always does.  My husband often reads me the daily word in the morning, and it had a quote from the Bible, "You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God."  (3 John 1:6)

I remembered then that when I fall into judgment or resistance, I can choose to be my best self.  I can encounter people in my day in a manner befitting my Godself, by being the best I can be in the moment. I'll never be perfect, but I can choose to lead that group affirming that in that little corner of creation, there is ample space for God's love in all of its expressions.

I choose to send them on in a manner worthy of God.  And in doing so, I am blessed beyond measure.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Living Your Purpose

I believe that the purpose of life is, simply, to live it. Really live it. We are meant to live our lives fully, experiencing all of our moments as deeply as possible, and thereby knowing what it has meant to be uniquely, and completely, us.

To live our lives fully, we need to be in present time as much as possible. It’s easier said than done, but important because we can’t really know all of the richness of being here when our minds are in the future, or in the past. There really is unimaginable power in cultivating being right here, right now.

Living life fully means being present for all of it, the highest highs and the lowest lows. It means not hiding from our deepest emotions, and accepting those feelings that make us uncomfortable and we wish we didn’t feel. It means accepting the parts of ourselves that are still stuck in forgetting.

When we are in touch with the present moment, we are aware of what we are feeling, and can make more conscious decisions about how we want to show up. We design ourselves with clear intention.

I have heard it said that our purpose in life is to pursue what makes us happy. Yes!  We are meant to create the best and highest expression of ourselves in all ways. Sometimes, though, creating our highest in this human form means pushing through the pain and confusion of forgetting. That too, as uncomfortable as it can be, is our purpose, to be fully present with our experiences, learn from them, and ultimately appreciate their lessons as they lead us to knowing our Godselves.

For me, the crux of living my purpose is consciously creating myself and my experience, and then being aware enough to appreciate the creation. In doing so, I am God, knowing herself.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Co-Creating With God

I was reminded at Unity this morning of a spiritual question I've been pondering for quite awhile.  A guest minister was talking about surrendering, and using the prayer "thy will be done."  For many years I have accepted the premise that the universe, God, our higher selves, however we choose to state it, will provide as we ask, and as we believe.  In a nutshell, ask, and it shall be given unto you, has been my truth.

It is still my truth.  I believe that we are limitless creators with the ability to manifest all that we can see ourselves being, and having.  It has been my experience that the clearer we are about what we want, the more likely it is to happen.   I also believe that turning anything over to God's will creates the highest outcome, because God sees so much more clearly than we do our heart's desires, and our deepest needs.

So my question to myself has been, in creating this life in the best and highest way, where do we stop being specific about what we want, and turn it over to God's will for us?

What I realized today was a great answer for me.  In thinking about what I have experienced in my life so far about creating, I realized that both are equally important.  It doesn't matter so much whether I feel like I am choosing, or God is choosing, because God exists as me.  We are one and the same.  What matters is the energy that the choice is happening in.

I have many times in my life felt certain about something specific that I wanted to have happen.  I saw it clearly in my mind, turned it over to God, and then let it go.  And sure enough, it did happen.  The important part was always that I turned it over to God, which is another way of saying "thy will be done."

I ask for specific things, but I also acknowledge that first and foremost I want what will bring the best and highest for me and all involved.  Often what I want does.  Sometimes, for some reason that I cannot see, it doesn't, and in that case I can trust that the best and highest is served in another way.

I remembered today that it is part of my birthright as an unlimited creator made in God's image to seek the best that I can be and have in this life.  And when I do it in an energy of surrendering to the divine intelligence of God's highest good, then all the good that I can imagine, and more, will come to pass.

May you create always with God as your copilot, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Getting Behind the Mind's Chatter

I saw a sign many years ago at the Aesclepion Healing Center in San Rafael that said, "Don't believe everything you think."  At the time I thought it was funny, and also knew that while it was profound, I didn't quite get it.  I imagined an existence where we have all types of random thoughts and live as if they are true, but most of them are not.  It would be rather like being actors in a play, pretending.  At the time I couldn't get my mind around that.

I've seen since that life really is like that.  We pretend that what our minds tell us is true, so that we can pretend, for a time, to be less than God.  Because of this, we are provided with our most holy of gifts, that of remembering our Godselves.  It is funny, in an existential kind of way.  And I'm still trying to get it.

The thing is, I'll never "get it" with my head, because we can't intellectualize spirit.  Truth doesn't happen in the mind, but in the heart.

The ego-driven mind's purpose is to maintain the illusion that we are separate, and that there is need to fear.  And so my thoughts can take me on a very convoluted path that becomes a slippery slope to a really unhelpful perspective.  The more I stop to notice where my mind is taking me, the more I realize just how frequently my thoughts turn to worry, and that worry sets the emotional tone of my experience.

When we decide not to believe everything we think, we can consciously choose which thoughts to attend to.  The rest we can notice and release without any concern about them at all.  And that is the tricky part, the letting go without concern, when the thoughts would have us believe they are hugely important in the moment.  How do we trust that the sky won't fall, finally, as everyone's been threatening, if we refuse to entertain the voice of fear that our thoughts can be?

I've found that first I must stop.  I must stop and acknowledge that my thoughts are running loose, and that I can choose which thoughts I want to nurture.  I then focus on my breathing, and watch in my mind's eye as I breathe into, and out through my heart.  In doing so I reconnect with the truth that resides there.  And I remember then to turn it all over to Father/Mother God, as I've been encouraged to do over and over, and in countless ways.  God is there, always there, just behind the mind's chatter.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Taking Good Care of Yourself

As a spiritual tool, consciously choosing to take good care of ourselves is crucial.  It's easy to forget to do it in the middle of our busy lives.  We tend to think of giving to others as being the more spiritual act, but taking really good care of ourselves is the best way of honoring these precious lives that we've been given.

Our sensitive, unique and wonderful bodies really are miracles, these magnificent temples of the soul.  They allow God to not only know but experience herself, through us.  Our bodies deserve our utmost care.

As I write this, I'm sitting with my feet up, looking out the window at the green grass, beautiful tall trees and the long rays of light from the setting sun.  The low light sparkles on the leaves that dance in the breeze.  Stopping to really notice scenes like this is one of the ways that I take good care of myself.

There are many ways, individual to each of us.  If we listen, we will hear what our bodies and our spirits need.  One tool I use often is to simply ask myself, "What do I need to do right now to take care of myself?"  Stopping for a moment to ask the question shifts our attention from details and busyness to remembering the truth of our own innate value and importance in the world.

Focusing on doing what we need to do to take good care of ourselves helps relieve stress, and makes us more effective in our roles and in our lives.  When we are good to ourselves, the world can dish out what it will, and we remain our own best advocates.  No matter what, we can find deep joy in nurturing our own hearts' desire.

I believe that the more often we choose to act in a way that honors our own needs, the healthier we can be physically and emotionally.  Our bodies and minds relax as they become accustomed to being treated with care.  We learn to trust ourselves.

Self-care may come in the form of spending time in nature, or practicing a creative hobby.  It may be found in getting more regular physical activity or eating foods that nurture our bodies and feel right for us.  Taking good care of ourselves may mean saying no, even when someone else is disappointed or angry, or making sure that we honor our need to spend time alone.

Splurging a little on the perfect pair of shoes or on some article of clothing that we feel great in could be a way to cherish ourselves.  Or it might be in planning a schedule for our days that includes time for our spiritual practice, or for other kinds of self-care.

We glorify God, and our blessed existence, when we remember to consider what we need to do to take good care of ourselves, and then do it.

May you find many joyful ways to cherish yourself, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Calling All Angels

Most people go through life with no awareness of the immense level of support and love that’s extended to us from the realm of spirit. In my own life, I have been aware of the profound healing energy of Mother Mary, providing comfort and easing my pain during some of my more difficult times. I’ve become familiar with her vibration and recognize when she is at work in my life; her energy always brings the same feelings of deep peace and security when I’ve needed them most.

Many people are aware of having a guardian angel, which is a being that has made an agreement to step in and assist us in creating our good. Countless sensitive and intuitive people have come to know the work of a guardian angel in their lives, and even call on them in times of need to help with things they feel incapable of managing in the moment.

Vast numbers of people all around the world pray to Jesus for help and guidance, or seek the teachings of Buddha or Lao Tzu, or any of the other very capable way-showers who were our guides in their lifetimes and who as spirit continue to influence our lives for the good of all mankind.

Connecting with these benevolent and loving spirits can be done in prayer.  It can be done in the quiet of meditation by listening to our own inner knowing about the beings who assist us.  I have many times chosen to see in my mind's eye a color representing the vibration of one spirit guide who works for my good.  There are many.

I see all of these beings as wonderful angels of light who have agreed to help us navigate our biggest challenges as we’re working to remember that we, ourselves, are angels of light. They assist us by reminding us that we are not alone, and that we are always connected to the divine light of God’s endless good.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Being a Blessing

I was thinking the other day about living my life with purpose, and what the most important considerations are for me in choosing who I want to be in my life right now.  It's interesting how the answer to that changes over time, as my priorities change with increasing experience.

My perspective as a middle-aged woman is certainly different from when I was younger, raising kids and working hard to make ends meet.  All of those experiences helped shape my ideas of the world and my place in it; now it feels like I have time to really hear the quiet voice of spirit within me, and design the remaining days of my life from my own deep purpose.

I recognize that the priorities I feel now will change in time, too, as I've had a chance to experience and assimilate the lessons I'm learning in present time.  But I've noticed that the older I get the more important it becomes for my life to follow guideposts of my own conscious choosing.

One of my present-time guideposts is simply to be a blessing.  In choosing to be a blessing, we automatically make our decisions from the part of ourselves that is connected with truth, and we are able to transcend judgement, resentment, or any other things that can come up when we're acting from a more fearful place.  We are able to do, and be, our best.

By making a conscious decision to be a blessing, we affirm our good, and let our awareness of God expressing through us shine through.  We validate what is true of us.  And when we raise our own vibration to awareness of God at work within ourselves and in all things, we raise the vibration of the entire world and everyone in it.

Being a blessing is like a prayer.  When we choose this day to be a blessing, as we ask, we are answered.  We give our best to the world, and are provided for in kind.  And as we live in the truth of our own divine nature, our own voice is God's voice in the world.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Breathe

Through it all, we breathe. Each and every breath we take provides us with another precious moment of being. Breathing is life itself.

Our breath contains the essence of all that has ever been and will ever be. The divine intelligence that created all experience, all history, our collective hopes and dreams, and our deepest fears, lives in the breath. With our breath we connect with spirit, and with our own place in eternity.

At any moment that I stop and become aware of my breathing, whether it is just stopping in the middle of a busy day to notice that I do breathe, or sitting in meditation for a longer time, I am reminded of the miracle of my own sacred life.

In noticing my breathing, I am brought back to that most simple and absolutely profound truth, that I Am. The large and small details of the day take on new meaning, because regardless of their relative importance, I am here.  My choices around those details weave threads into the fabric of who I am, and who I choose to be. My thoughts, words and actions contribute to the essence that all will breathe for time neverending.  I Am. There is no bigger gift.

There’s a song we sing at Unity that I love which says it beautifully:

O, spirit, sing in me.
Breath of God, dance in me.
Let me be your song of love,
O, spirit, sing in me.

May the breath of God dance in you today, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Being Ordinary

I believe it is human nature to want to excel, to know that there are things that we do especially well and that we are special in our own unique ways. But in our fast-paced, constantly-productive, competitive and ego-driven world, it’s easy to forget the grace that comes from being just plain us.

In remembering that we are expressions of divine creation and therefore innately special, there is nothing we need to do. Our birth into the human family is an automatic guarantee of greatness in this whole delicious scheme that is the miracle of ongoing creation.

In our greatness we are quite ordinary. For all of the seeming uniqueness of our experience, in the bigger picture all people move through life experiencing most of the same things that come along with being human. Like all others, we live and breathe, we love and hurt and struggle and rejoice. We remember our divinity, and we forget.

An awareness of being ordinary allows us to open our hearts to other people without judgment, because we recognize that we are all expressions of what is commonplace in people. We become less divided when we notice that our differences really are insignificant compared to the vast similarities that we share.

In being ordinary we can reduce the stress in our lives, because there is nothing to strive for. We don’t create goals or make decisions based on comparing ourselves with others’ goals or accomplishments. We can put our attention on the things that bring our own intrinsic joy.

Being unexceptional is a very nurturing state of awareness. It allows us to live more fully in the present, because there is nothing additional we need to do. We are just us, and it is enough.

May you delight in being ordinary, and may this tool be a blessing. . .