Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Perfection Underlying All

During this time of year, as many are honoring the growing light of God consciousness being born within each of us, I offer up my humble blessing.

May you find more of those moments where in the middle of whatever is happening your mind is content and your heart is full because you know that all is well.

May you trust more, and laugh more, as you turn over your expectations about how things are supposed to be and make more room to just enjoy the ride.

May you know the peace of being born of a perfection so absolute that all you need ever do in this life is rest in it.

May you move ever closer to that sacred but tricky balance of knowing your own eternal divinity within this precious, bumbling and often chaotic human life.

May you notice the blessing that you are and the blessings that you receive in the year to come.

And may you stand tall and be peace on earth as you remember who you are, and may the bright beacon of your remembering shine brightly over those around you.

You are the light of the world!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Learning From Conflict

A teacher many years ago told me that the people we have the most struggles with are our biggest gurus. The word “guru” is a telling one, as it means “spiritual guide or leader.” How difficult it is to think of the people who get under our skin as the people best able to help us find part of the truth we seek.

It is through interaction and relationship with others that we have a way of defining ourselves and our place in the world. Human interaction provides the base material for our ability to choose who we want to be, and for remembering ourselves through those choices as divine expressions of never-ending good.

It amazes me when I think about all of the human interactions that I have resisted. I have spent countless hours of my life wanting people to be different. I’ve been so wrapped up in processing some kind of misunderstanding or conflict that I missed out on all of the other good that was going on around me.

Not only does spending my mental energy spinning about what others are doing that I don’t agree with rob me of the joy in my days, it also separates me from my most precious truth, which is that perfect good is behind all that happens.

How can I find the good behind the circumstances in my life when people did not have my best interest at heart? How can I reconcile those times when I was diminished, betrayed, manipulated, or just plain forgotten?

What those times have taught me and continue to teach me is that how I am affected is never about the other person, but about me, and how I choose to show up. What others say, or think, or do is their choice and their expression in that moment. The gift in the struggles I’ve had with other people is that no matter how unfair things are or how pushed I feel, I am provided with an opportunity to choose the truth that I will serve.

That most holy gift of choice allows me to strive to understand where another person is coming from, to stay or to walk away, or to take a clear and open stand to address a change that I feel is important. I can choose to remember that all is happening for good, and to be the best “good” that I can be. In those moments, when I can remember, I am God reveling in her own remembering.

Allowing interpersonal struggles to help us grow spiritually means getting past right and wrong, and finding a way to accept what is. Given the very different lenses that people see things through, we will never completely understand what drives other people’s actions. When we can trust that challenges are happening for an as-yet-unseen purpose, we step back from blame and make room for the best and highest outcome.

I’m learning, in my most challenging interactions with others, to entertain the possibility that there is something important in it for me, something I’ve likely been waiting a very long time to remember!

May you find all-encompassing good in your struggles, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

What Do I Need to Do to Take Care of Myself?

I’ve found a great deal of help in this tool, which I teach in my stress management classes at work. In any moment, the simple act of asking ourselves, “What do I need to do to take good care of myself right now?” can have a very powerful effect on our experience, our clarity and effectiveness, and even our health.

In the middle of our busy days, we tend to place our awareness “out there” for long stretches of time, concentrating on what needs to get done next. Because those to-do lists are never really finished, we can become stressed, tired, anxious, worried, or many other things without even noticing, because we are so focused outside of ourselves. Human beings are pretty adept at losing touch with our deepest feelings and most honest needs because we don’t practice paying attention to them. Our own truth gets lost in all of the “noise” around us.

We need time, and a space, for body and spirit to speak to one another, because without that communication our whole system can get out of whack. This can manifest in many different ways, such as having trouble sleeping, getting sick, or feeling like our emotions are out of control.

The spirit needs to hear the body’s deep emotions, to process the body’s experience in the way it seeks to. And the body needs to hear the spirit’s gentle voice to remember itself as whole.

Taking the time we need for meditation, prayer, writing, or whatever other technique we practice to experience our wholeness is not always possible when we’re in the middle of something.  But we can always take the time to ask what we can do to take care of ourselves in that moment.

I notice whenever I do this that my body immediately breathes easier, even before I answer the question. Just the act of asking validates my own precious existence, and both body and spirit are healed in that instant. I cease being a human “doing” and again recognize my being, which is perfect in and of itself and requires nothing else.

It’s amazing to me how after I’ve considered how I can best take care of myself, whatever I do in response is so delightful and appreciated, no matter how small. I woke up this morning tired and definitely not wanting to get out of bed to get ready and drive to work in the winter’s dark. I grumped internally for a minute, and then asked this of myself. The question assumes that we always have the perfect answer, which of course we do when we remember to ask.

What we focus on grows, and so after I asked what I needed to do to take good care of myself, I created space for more good in my experience. I got ready for work in a much lighter energy as I stopped to grab some bags of my favorite hot teas to take with me. I really enjoyed settling in to work this morning, considering which tea sounded the yummiest and getting it steeping while I turned on my computer and started to get ready for the day ahead.

I love how little things can become such big gifts! That cup of hot pomegranate tea helped me let go of my resistance, find my enthusiasm, remember my blessings, and bring the energy of gentleness and peace to every cell in my body. It was the answer to my prayer.

Considering what we need to do to take care of ourselves in any moment can be a wonderful way of reconnecting body and spirit, and a simple and powerful healing.

May you always take the time to focus on your own self-care, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Monday, November 21, 2011

Being of Service

I have heard it said that it is in giving that we receive. I can see the truth of this on a number of levels. When we are reacting from fear of not having enough ourselves, we won’t feel like we can spare anything for others. Everyone loses with this type of belief because what we hold as true we create in our lives.

In other words, we get what we expect. In the midst of the world’s current challenges it’s pretty easy to believe in dwindling bank balances, eroding resources, and maybe even the possibility of financial collapse. But I’m learning that the most loving and spiritually creative thing I can do is hold fast to the truth I want to perpetuate in the world, regardless of all appearances to the contrary, no matter how convincing they may be.

The truth we hold, individually and collectively, dictates our outcome. When we’re sorely tempted to hold on to every bit we have because we aren’t sure when the time will come when we really don’t have enough, our experience can do nothing except reflect back to us the belief that we lack. And when we do that, we close the door on the infinite ability of divine consciousness to work through us to create all the good that we can imagine.

In giving we affirm the truth that we live in abundance, always able to create what we need and more. And there are so many ways to give! In our busy world our time is a treasure that we can give in ways that will make a big difference to a loved one, a stranger, or a worthy cause that speaks to us. Being of service to others is a validation of the deep truth that there really is no reality in lack. It is a celebration of all that we’ve been given, and of our own precious and abundant lives.

My father-in-law is a shining example and my inspiration about being of service. He’s 84 years old, has had two hip surgeries, and is affected by many of the limitations of growing older. I’ve watched him continue to give, even more as the years have passed. He takes food out to a 94-year-old friend who is housebound. He drives other friends to doctor’s appointments. He cares for an aging family member with dementia with infinite kindness and understanding. He loves his family, always asking about his grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

My father-in-law recently gave my husband a book he made about his life, complete with old pictures and explanations about where he’s been and what he’s done. The book is a treasure, and he titled it, “My Life Has Been Good.” And if you ask him about his life, that’s what he’d tell you. Not fancy or exciting, maybe, by other people’s standards, but my father-in-law is a man who recognizes the love and the good in his life, and gifts it back to all of us who are lucky enough to be close to him.

I’ve said many times that I write to remember, and so today I will remember not to get so caught up in what I have to do that I forget how much I have. And I will remember that slowing down and giving my time is probably the most precious gift of all. God's perfect abundance expresses through me, and as me, and as all of us.

May you know the limitlessness of your own abundance, and give of it freely. And may this tool be a blessing. .

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Blessings From Strangers

Air travel these days can be stressful, and because people are rushed, cramped, and often frustrated, it has the potential to bring out the worst in travelers’ interactions with each other. My husband and I took a quick trip across the country last weekend to visit our daughter and her family, and meet our new grandson. The adventure was another example for me of the innate goodness in all of us.

It had been bumper-to-bumper traffic approaching the toll plaza to cross the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, even at 6:00 in the morning. The thought had crossed my mind that we might miss our flight. When we finally got to the toll booth, the woman inside took the money from my husband and said “You have a really great day today, OK?” What a blessing her words were, especially since she stands there for hours at a time taking money from one car after another, but still took the time and energy to reach out with what felt like very sincere good wishes.

At the airport we realized that not only were all of our flights full, but we had been assigned to middle seats, one in front of the other. As luck would have it, the only passenger who didn’t make the first flight had the seat right next to me. There were many more bags being stowed in the overhead compartments than there was room for, and the flight attendants were harried, to say the least. I asked one busy attendant about my husband taking the empty seat, and she told me we’d have to wait and see if the other passenger arrived. That made sense, of course, and I thought she’d forget all about my mentioning it with everything she had to do. But right at the last minute she came up and shifted people around, moving my husband up next to me, and asking everyone to do it quickly because we were going to take off. With all of the demands on flight attendants today, she did everything she could to make things a little easier for the travelers in her care. I really appreciated that.

On the second leg of the flight, from Denver to Atlanta, we were again assigned to seats one in front of the other. I was passing a book behind me, to my husband, and the lady in the aisle seat next to me asked how we ended up sitting apart. She offered to trade places with him so that we could sit together, even though it meant giving up her roomier aisle seat to be squeezed in between two others in the row behind. She did that without being asked, just because it was a kind thing to do for a perfect stranger.

I watched a young man grab bags from the overhead compartment for a small, older woman who was traveling alone. People helped mothers with strollers and stepped aside so that others could pass. The last leg of the trip left late, and people cheered and clapped when they announced overhead that no one would pay for in-flight movies.

It’s easy for us to overlook the small things, especially when we are harried and hungry and worried about reaching our destinations when we’re supposed to, but these small gifts happen all the time. We just need to pay attention. Human nature is the embodiment of love, generosity, and kindness.

It could be that I felt these blessings from strangers more strongly because they were strangers, and under no obligation to one another.  The action of a stranger reaching out in love is that much more special for its generosity. I watched over and over as people in frustrating circumstances rose to the occasion and tried to do their best for their fellow travelers, knowing that we were all in it together.

May you notice the divine love expressing in the strangers you share a moment with, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Monday, October 31, 2011

Friendship

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”

I attended a costume dinner party last week with a group of dear friends. We call ourselves the Ya-Ya’s (borrowed from the wonderful movie “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”), and it’s a perfectly fitting name because it's a truly divine sisterhood.

For me, the Ya-Ya’s are divine in part because we celebrate all the time, birthdays, big events in our lives, our similarities, our differences, and for no reason in particular. I just looked again at the pictures from last week’s dinner party, which were posted on facebook, and they made me laugh and feel silly all over again. Our times together are a celebration of being female, of middle-age challenges, lessons learned and dreams realized, and of our interconnectedness with each other and in our own divine lives.

I have heard it said that it takes a long time to grow an old friend. I’ve known one of those ladies 20 years, and some others almost as long. It takes that kind of time to create relationships that honor the best and worst in each other. In more ways than I could ever list or even remember, my friends have seen through my scared, stuck times, and have sung for me the song in my heart when I needed it most. I like to think I have sung their songs to them also, when they’ve forgotten.

Kahil Gibran said that friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. Creating and maintaining relationships is not always easy, but nothing good in life is created without our conscious attention to it. We need to remember to find time for and nurture the things that are most important.

So here’s to you, dear Ya-Ya’s. You are treasures.

May you always get by, like John Lennon, with a little help from your friends. And may this tool be a blessing. . .

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Seeing Beyond the World of Our Making

I believe that I am growing in my awareness of God living here right now as me, not just as a mental concept but as a miracle that opens my world in indescribably heart-felt ways. But the pull of forgetting is strong! I honor it as a tool for transformation, but divine tool or not, I much prefer remembering! Forgetting is so automatic that most of the time I am lost in this world of my own making, this delicious and dizzying reality where I rather ironically get to re-create a truth that has never ceased to be - God living here as me.

I see fear on the news, and feeling unsafe becomes what is true for me in that moment. In a meeting or gathering when I could share a perspective that might benefit all, I am quiet because my view is not the popular one, and in the world of my own making I must be mistaken if so many feel differently.

I feel slighted by someone, and that disregard becomes my truth for a time as I experience being unworthy. In a store I see a frustrated mother slap her young child, and my staunch truth in that moment is the unworthiness of another, because this world of our own making often reflects the short view. How deeply I believe what I experience outside of me!

But as strong as forgetting appears to be, I know it is made of very thin fabric. It is only strong to the degree that I resist it. I’m remembering more of the time not to fight my experience in the world of my making, but to let it be as it is. Instead I turn my attention to the quiet knowing within, and the world “out there,” exciting as it is, loses its authority over what is true.

It’s an interesting practice, denying what seems obvious in exchange for believing in something unseen. But the truth of us does not exist in the world of forgetting that we’ve created outside of us, but rather in the quiet place of our hearts where God resides. It’s not always easy to keep our focus on God’s gentle voice when the world beckons with so much urgency. But no matter how many times we get distracted from owning that we are all perfect expressions of goodness, we can reconnect with the truth in an instant by seeking the ever-present voice of God that speaks within our hearts.

May you acknowledge the presence of God within you, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Being God

I wrote a few days ago about being luscious, and what a wonderful characteristic that is to own about myself. The idea of being is central to our existence in human bodies because I believe it’s the part of ourselves, individually and collectively, that we’re all seeking. Bringing more awareness of “being” into our human experience is, to me, what this whole wild ride is all about.

We live comfortably (or not so comfortably depending on the day) immersed in the unique circumstances of our lives as we know them – the roles we play, our responsibilities and preferences, who we are in this world. We are comfortable or not to varying degrees with the belief that we are separate from God. We believe that God exists, and we are profoundly grateful for the existence of that infinite good in our lives, but we have made ourselves comfortable knowing that greatness as outside of ourselves.

But slowly the tide is turning, and in our minds we’re starting to hope that perhaps it isn’t true, and in our hearts we’re daring to know that it’s not true for the briefest and most fleeting of moments. I’m all for daring to know more of the time.

What would life look like if I walked through my day being God, really being God, and experiencing myself in that way? I mean, how hard can it be? If it is true, if God really does live as me (an idea that my heart fairly screams at me if I stop to listen for just a second) then what am I waiting for?

If I believe that as a child of God made in her image I can choose to “be” anything in my imagining, can I not just as easily choose to be God herself? Yes. If I believe that I exist as limitless creative possibility able to express any or all things, all I need to do is decide.

The question for me then becomes how much faith do I have in what my heart is telling me? And can I dare to own it in my day-to-day experience?

Have you ever sat quietly and let the truth you think become the truth that rests in your heart and in every cell of your body? It is luscious beyond description. God lives as me, and right now I choose to be God. Within this body, with every step I take and in every situation I encounter, with each thought and with all of my tumultuous emotions, God lives and breathes, and I feel God’s laughter deep within my heart, and I am a body of light. God is experiencing me knowing myself as God, and feels his own deep joy.

I feel that joy in my heart when I am choosing to be God; it bubbles and percolates through me, and I am free. I am infinite and perfect good. OMG!

I love the quote, “Be still and know that I am God.” But what about “Be still and be God?” There’s a wonderful state of being to try on.

May we all find the “being” in our humanness, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Monday, October 3, 2011

Being Luscious

My husband and I recently began facilitating Unity’s fall book study program, which this year is focusing on a book called Who Have You Come Here to Be? by Kelly Isola. With this outwardly simple but thought-provoking book, we have an opportunity to explore 101 different states of being, identifying which most strongly speak to our hearts, and why.

The first chapter focuses on attributes which she associates with the element “fire.” (In later chapters we will explore states of being that correspond to earth, air and water.) I have to say, it was an interesting exercise. I don’t think of myself as particularly “fiery,” but I noticed that I admire many of those attributes, and would like to express more of them. Many people in our group noticed how much they identify with certain characteristics to the exclusion of others. We tend to become comfortable with our way of expressing ourselves in the world, learning over time what “works” for us. Consciously choosing to exhibit characteristics other than what are typical for us can be a very scary prospect.

For example, what if someone who strongly identifies with and expresses more quietly and peacefully (me) decides to incorporate an uncharacteristic level of “fire” in her personality. Well, I decided to try it.

The attribute that jumped out at me was “luscious.” I hadn’t before thought of luscious as a state of being, but to me it describes living life with passion, so I decided to “try it on” for the week. It was fun hearing what other people were drawn to, and what they envisioned life would look like if they were expressing that particular quality.

What I’m finding so far is that I love “being” luscious. As I expected, it has so far been a very conscious intention to find passion in the small moments of my life. With the intention of not just living a luscious life but “being” luscious, I stop and really see the sunrise, or enjoy the moments petting my funny old dog. This morning I noticed the lusciousness of the purple color I am wearing, and I’m enjoying being aware of that bold color today. Each time I am more aware of these small things is a celebration of living.

I’ve also noticed that choosing to be luscious pulls me back to the present, because I can’t be luscious if I’m not right here in the moment living it fully. Luscious is a right now kind of thing.

When I’m choosing to be luscious I don’t sweat the small stuff as much, because it’s overshadowed by all of the delicious and truly magnificent details that are right here waiting to be experienced in every moment of this sacred life.

I love being luscious, because I’ve decided that nothing is more important than being present and having all of it, as much as I possibly can. What I do doesn’t matter nearly as much as remembering that I am.

In choosing to be luscious I honor my precious life, and am a blessing to the world, and to myself. It is where my inner light burns most brightly. I guess I can be fiery! So, today I choose to live lusciously, openly, passionately, and with tremendous gratitude!

May you celebrate the luscious in your life, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Friday, September 30, 2011

Guest Post: Ancient Holistic Options for Modern Cancer Patients

From time to time I have the opportunity to share a fellow blogger's work. Melanie Bowen writes on two blogs, Miladay and All About Health. Following is a post she wrote to share here. May this post be a blessing...

"The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure but from hope to hope." -Samuel Johnson from tinybuddah

Many cancer patients -- whether they are dealing with breast cancer, leukemia, a disease like mesothelioma, which is triggered from asbestos exposure, or another malignancy – they are all looking for a new perspective. Integrating Eastern or Oriental therapies with traditional medical treatment may give them the answer they are looking for.


Many modern cancer patients are turning to ancient holistic therapies to supplement conventional therapies, like radiation and chemotherapy. Standard cancer treatments, while effective, can cause pain, low energy, and other side effects. Holistic therapies can combat these side effects.

Holistic healing such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has evolved over nearly three millennia, into a set of practices to treat illnesses and promote wellness. Cancer is viewed differently by TCM practitioners than Western oncologists, partly because holistic healing is based on the belief that everything in the universe is connected.

Eastern and Oriental medicine view the body as an energy system, with a life force that flows through invisible channels called meridians. Many TCM therapies are energy therapies that unblock the energy flow to promote balance and healing.

Cancer patients today have a number of holistic options, including several energy therapies. Yoga, acupuncture, and acupressure are some of the more common therapies. But modern cancer doctors also recommend therapeutic massage, healing touch, intuitive bodywork, and EFT tapping (Emotional Freedom Technique).

A report by the American Cancer Fund takes a serious look at holistic options for cancer treatment. According to Lorenzo Cohen, director of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Integrative Medicine Program, energy therapies are, “focused on keeping the body balanced, to keep the [energy] flowing through the body and stop blockages … from happening.” In TCM, this is what leads to illness, including cancer.

Integrative energy therapies work to unblock the accumulations that cause tumors, and bring balance and harmony between a patient’s mind, body, and soul. EFT tapping, healing touch, and other energy therapies can be used before, during, and after cancer treatment to alleviate the side effects.

As more patients turn to integrative therapies, more research is being conducted. The result is a better understanding of how holistic care can be useful in the fight with cancer. Various clinical trials have looked at the effects of complementary medicine on nausea, dry mouth, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal disorders, fatigue, and mood of cancer patients.

So far, studies have been conducted on patients with breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, and other malignancies. The findings, which are promising for these cancer types, can mean good things in the future for people with other forms of cancer, including late-stage cancer and those going through mesothelioma prognosis.

Holistic care focuses on the body as a whole: body, mind, emotions, and spirit. From energy therapies and mind-body approaches to biologic therapies, nutrition, and special diets, holistic options are many for cancer patients today. The results -- from reduced pain and stress to an enhanced quality of life -- speak for themselves.


Melanie Bowen is an advocate for natural health and cancer cure initiatives. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English with a specialty in Psychology and Medical Research, you will often find her highlighting the great benefits of different nutritional, emotional, and physical treatments on those with illnesses in her efforts to spread awareness. To read more of Melanie’s articles you can visit her at Milady the blog.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Not Having to Know

What a blessing it is, not having to know. Knowing the answer to things has kept me feeling safe for a long, long time, but it’s also sustained a level of mild anxiety that became so familiar I didn’t even notice it.

For people who've grown up in chaos, feeling like we know how to conduct life in a productive and stable fashion might seem to keep the demons of childhood at bay, but it doesn't. What I’m finding is that feeling driven to maintain control of the circumstances of my life really just feeds the old fear that things are going to fall apart and become dangerous. That is, of course, not the truth of my existence as I now understand it.

Having to know how to be a good enough employee, spouse, parent, friend or any other of life’s roles is demanding and stressful. It ultimately just gets in the way of divine intelligence within taking the right and perfect step in any situation in which we find ourselves.

The chief of medicine in the clinic where I work has a poster in her office that shows a cartoon picture of a chicken looking up frantically that says, “What if Chicken Little was right?” It’s so easy to fall back into those old fears that are sure in any moment something bad might happen, so we need to stay ever-vigilant and know what to do to head it off. But we might not know exactly what “it” is.

I know that when I do not feel the need to be in control of what my future holds, what people think of me, or even how my loved ones will fare in their circumstances, a weight is lifted that I’m not even aware of carrying. I can breathe easier.

When I don’t feel pressured to always know the right thing to do or the best way to act, I can just be. And that is enough.

And so I release it all to God who lives within me, the fear, the uncertainty, the knowing, and the not-knowing. There is nothing I need to force, and I do nothing alone. Into every situation of my life all I need do is shine the light of my deepest truth, which is that through it all, God lives as me.

May you release all to the light of God within you, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A Case for Logic

A teacher once told me that you can’t intellectualize spirit. I agree with this statement for the most part, because certainly spirit is experienced in the present moment only. As soon as we apply a label, our awareness of spirit becomes a construct of mind rather than the pure experience of being.

But we are human, and in this physical form we are self-aware, and we learn. We use the mind to process our experience and choose who we want to be. We are divine mind in action.

Most of you know that a favorite spiritual practice of mine is writing letters to God. A recent letter to God about forgetting caused me to make a case for logic as a spiritual tool.

God responded to me, in part, that “whether you’re remembering or forgetting the truth of who you are in any moment doesn’t change the truth. But the question becomes, ‘How do you experience your own expression in the world as infinitely good enough when earlier experience tried to teach you otherwise? How do you trust the truth of God within you when others can’t trust it either?’

“The truth stands unchanged in the midst of all; therefore, you need to question the voices that say you are anything less than God. Think about it – you are light, or you are not. You are perfect, or you are not. I live in and as you, or I do not. Since both cannot be true, which truth do you choose to serve? Your heart knows the truth and speaks it to you in countless different ways. “

Thank you, God, for appealing to logic when that was what I needed!

I’ve been facilitating a spiritual weight loss support group at Unity, following a book by Marianne Williamson. In a chapter on the importance of feeling our feelings in order to learn from and process them, she makes another strong case for logic as a spiritual tool.

Following is a delightful excerpt from her book, A Course in Weight Loss. She is talking about feeling overwhelmed as a natural consequence of failing to recognize a divine hand upholding all things.

“If you feel you must control everything by yourself – if you don’t feel you can ask for God’s help with the details – then no wonder you feel absolutely overwhelmed. You can’t exactly hold up the stars in the sky, but obviously someone does. So couldn’t that someone hold and harmonize the circumstances of your life? (I love this! Logic at its best. . .)

She goes on to say that “In fact, the entire universe is held safely in Divine hands. Planets revolve around the sun, stars stay in the sky, cells divide, and embryos turn into babies. Embryos don’t exclaim, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this! I don’t know how to cell-divide!’ The embryo doesn’t have to know. An order bigger than the embryo moves it forward as part of nature’s blueprint.”

If that’s not a strong (and logical) argument in favor of God in all things, I don’t know what is!

Thank you, Marianne Williamson, and may this tool be a blessing.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

It's Here!! Daily Spiritual Tools, the Book


I am proud to announce that Daily Spiritual Tools is now available as an e-book.  I received feedback from many of this blog's followers that they would appreciate these tools in book form, and am happy to say that it has come to fruition!

Daily Spiritual Tools celebrates the existence of the divine in all human experience.  It’s a compilation of 79 meditations and simple practices that open our awareness to perfect and divine order within all things.  As humankind moves from a truth of spirituality “out there” to one of God expressing as each of us and in all things, the tools contained in the book help us accept that truth and know it as our own.  In doing so we help elevate others and our world.

I've said many times that I write to remember, and Daily Spiritual Tools has been a labor of love, and remembering, for me.  Through this blog I have had the opportunity to connect with amazing people from all around our wonderful world.  It's uplifting to know that there are so many like-minded souls working to raise the consciousness of the world one person at a time.  I am sincerely grateful for your kindness, insight and love.

Copies of Daily Spiritual Tools, the Book, are available through Amazon.com and smashwords.com.  If you know someone who might enjoy reading my book, I would appreciate your spreading the word in any way that seems appropriate.

May this book be as much a blessing to you in reading it as it has been to me in writing it...

Friday, August 19, 2011

Joy in Small Things

Let me always find joy in small things!  The everyday things that might easily have gone unnoticed are special gifts.

I've never noticed birds a great deal, but lately I'm learning how delightful they are.  Last month when we were backpacking there was a very bold red-headed woodpecker who was quite comfortable right out in the open in our campsite.  He kept an eye on us like the guardian of the forest, and we enjoyed his company.

There's a group of birds that congregate in the mornings to bathe in a big puddle that forms at the edge of the grass outside the window where I work.  What a delight when I'm starting my day to stop for a minute and watch them.  To say that they are bathing is an understatement; it looks more like a raucous dance as they change positions and get completely down into the water and shake for all they're worth.

And what a hoot watching the birds in our backyard, oh my goodness!  We hung a new bird feeder closer to the house, which is suspended by a string and able to spin around freely.  It has six little holes and posts for the birds to perch on as they eat, and it's really funny watching them holding on and spinning around like they're on a thrill ride at the fair.  Centrifugal force pushes some off, but they come back for more.  And there's that one determined soul who's sometimes left spinning around and around by himself like king of the hill.  What beautiful and fun moments, and all I had to do for them was stop and notice.

I'm learning to acknowledge small things, and be grateful for them.  I was looking for an important piece of mail recently and realized that it had probably been taken out by mistake with the recycling.  When I went to check there it was, right where the recycling had been, and it had either slipped out of the pile or had been on the bottom.  Little serendipitous things that seem random or like blind luck are gifts from heaven.

There are so many examples of perfect good at work, a much-needed break in traffic when we're late,  a song on the radio with exactly the lyrics we'd been needing to hear, or a stranger getting to the door at just the same time we do and opening it for us, because our arms are full.

I'm remembering to say thank you now when these things happen.  When we are grateful we make room for more good things in our lives, large and small.

May you always notice the grace in small things, and may this tool be a blessing. . .


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Full-Out Loving Life

I had dinner the other night with a dear friend of mine named Jeri.  In the 20 years I've known her, I've always admired and appreciated her loving acceptance, her openness, her unfailing concern, and the bright light she shines in the world.

It's fitting that Jeri forwarded to me the following wonderful quote from Neale Walsch.  We cannot be conscious of something that we ourselves do not possess, so I'm not surprised that this quote spoke to Jeri.  She is God, and love, in expression. 

"It is the full-out loving of life, and all that life presents in every moment, that is the expression of Godliness."

I think I'm maybe just starting to get it, at this time in my life, on the far side of middle age but definitely not old yet, that I can trust God.

It's a tall order, I think, to approach every situation without worry or fear, and trust that perfect good is at work in all things.  I know it in my head, and often feel it in my heart.  I write about it and I believe every word I say.

In a moment, though, my trust is quickly replaced by fear when something happens that feels threatening, or like it should be different.  It happened this morning, reading in the paper about people struggling against oppression and famine, the worldwide economy, and democracies flailing.

I can visualize a world where all people move through the circumstances of their days with an open heart and an abiding love for being there in the middle of all of it.  But we can only do that when we surrender our need to understand and control, and begin to trust a perfection that we have no way of really understanding anyway, while in this physical form.

And so we choose, and choose again.  In each moment, when we notice we are afraid, we affirm, as Unity teaches, that fear has no power over us, and that there really is only one presence and one power, God the Good.

We acknowledge our fear and our resistance and then we choose the truth we will serve in that moment.  There will always be circumstances that shake our truth, but that doesn't change it.  All of the things that flame our fears provide divine and holy opportunities to remember that we create this world according to what we hold as truth.

It's a huge leap of faith, but we can do it. We are doing it.

In the middle of situations that shake our faith to the core, and in the midst of all evidence to the contrary,  we trust, and we choose, perfect Good.  And for me that's the crux of the matter, because when I trust that there is a much larger good at work, even though it can't be understood with my limited human thinking, I can embrace all of it.  I can love life.  And I am brought full-circle, by allowing God, I experience my own Godliness.

May this tool be a blessing. . .




Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Just Listen

My husband and I recently returned from a wonderful backpacking trip, where I was reminded of the simple tool of just listening.  When we’re backpacking listening is easier, without clocks or cell phones or anything we have to do except be there. 

Sitting quietly surrounded by nature’s beauty is a perfect time to ask of divine intelligence, “What would you have me remember right now?”  We are always answered when we think to stop and ask. 

I have had some wonderful conversations with God sitting on a log overlooking a little alpine lake at 9,000 feet, and although nature does help our connection with the divine, we can stop to listen anytime.

The quiet voice of God within us, while ever present, often goes unnoticed when our minds are too busy with the details of life.  So it’s helpful to cultivate strategies that allow us to stop, and hear the voice of the larger truth that imbues all life experience. 

One thing that helps me hear is to write.  My journal-writing has transitioned over the years into part journal, part letter to God, and part God’s response to me.  My journal entries have begun “Dear God” for awhile now, and as I spill my thoughts and feelings onto paper God’s perspective begins to come through in what I’m writing, as direction or validation or loving acceptance. 

Of course it’s all God.  As I write to God I write to myself, and as God’s responses come through in what I’ve written, I know that God within me has all of the answers that I will ever need.  There is nothing I lack.

Certainly prayer and meditation are important ways to listen to the highest within us, whether we seek to know what our best course of action might be, or just want to hear what God is wanting to say to us in that moment.

We can also just take a minute and stop.  When we pull our awareness back from the racing thoughts of the day, God is there, in the voice of loving wisdom that lives in our hearts.

May this tool be a blessing. . .


Saturday, July 23, 2011

Being Peace

Our physical bodies are designed to process spiritual energy.  All thoughts or emotions, every decision, the dynamics in relationships, are at their core vibrations of spiritual energy.  These myriad vibrations of energy are divine consciousness in action, creating all of the experience available to us in remembering that we are God.

It is important to remember that experience can be conscious or unconscious; sometimes we are aware of the vibrations passing through us, and sometimes we are not, but we are still affected by their presence.  There are countless examples of this, but a very common one might be feeling peaceful, and then walking into a room with one or more people and having your mood quickly fall to a lower vibration, such as competition, self-consciousness or contention.  While we would most likely own this lower vibration as something within us that we have created, it is actually us absorbing a vibration moving through that is not us at all.

On a minute-to-minute basis we are being affected by, and responding to, vibrations of spiritual energy.  With awareness, spiritual energy is something that we can manage more consciously.  Not only can we choose to accept, or release what is "going by," we can also "set the energy" in our bodies to any vibration that we prefer.  It is our spiritual birthright, as unlimited creators made in God's image, to design our best life.

There are a number of ways to consciously design our bodies' energy.  Lately I've been choosing to set my body's energy at "peace."  Because we create that which we focus our intention upon, simply choosing peace, owning peace, and remembering and affirming that "I am peace," makes it so.  By doing this we reset the vibration of the body.

An even more powerful technique for setting the vibration in the body is to use the clairvoyant ability that is innate in all of us, which can be found in the mind's eye, and in our imagination.  The idea of peace, and any other thing we can imagine in this lifetime, vibrates at a certain frequency, and that frequency can be seen as a color.  Because we all see color in our own way, there is no right or wrong way to do it.

Today, in my mind's eye, peace is light yellow.  Now I decide, how shall I fill myself with peace?  The simpler the better, so I am back in kindergarten.  I see a big yellow ball of peace above me, and I bring it down into the top of my head and watch, in my imagination, as it moves through me and fills every cell of my body.  Or I "see" the air around me filled with peaceful yellow light, and I breathe deeply.  And now I watch, in my limitless imagination, as I fill a giant pitcher with the color of peace, and pour it out over the top of my head and it washes over me, releasing anything I hold on to that is not peaceful.

I find new joy in coming as a child, as I remember that I am peace.

May your life be a rainbow of colors of your own design, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Welcoming All

A favorite quote, from Rumi:

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival,
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your home
Empty of it's furniture.
Still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be cleaning you out
For some new delight.

May you cherish every moment of your amazing life, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Caring for the Body

For a very long time, our awareness of God has been of a deity out there somewhere, exerting his influence based on criteria we don’t understand, leaving us always looking outside of ourselves for some philosophy that can help us know what we need to do to earn his favor.

At this point in human evolution many are being guided toward a much broader awareness of God, one that recognizes the very real presence of God right here in this physical realm, in the middle of every part of being human. We are just beginning to consider the magnitude and ramifications of the truth that wherever we are, God is, in every situation, every thought and every emotion we’ve ever had or ever will have.

Most importantly, we are realizing that for this to be possible, God must reside within every one of us. Regardless of how we choose to perceive that mind-boggling notion, the bottom line is that we are living God’s life. God is experiencing her God-self through our own experience.

Most of us have heard the much-known maxim that our bodies are temples of the soul, but I’m not sure we’ve caught up with the utter truth of that enough to care for them as sacred expressions of God’s life. Many of us find joy in following a spiritual path and finding a deeper meaning for our existence, but don’t fully consider the role of the body on that path. We seek spiritual truth “out there” without even realizing that what we’re seeking is right here. We live in it 24 hours a day. In body, mind and spirit there is no separation; it is all God.

I’ve realized that caring for the body is a spiritual practice unto itself. I can sit for an hour of meditation and prayer, and connect with divine intelligence within me. I can also choose to eat a meal of healthy food, and honor and validate that divine intelligence that created me. When I choose to exercise or move my body in some way that is fun and healthy, I celebrate God’s life within me.

When I love my body enough to consider what is best for it, and honor it by following through with its needs, I am the embodiment of the holy trinity; I am the lover, the loved, and love itself.

All acts of self-care are ultimately acts of love. They are our prayers of gratitude for our ability, through these precious temples, to be God’s life.

May you practice random and frequent acts of self-care, and may this tool be a blessing. .

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Present Time


Lately I’ve been renewing my love affair with present time.  It’s always been a very one-sided relationship; present time being right here with me, always waiting to be savored, me gallivanting off to who-knows-where in my mind, unable to resist my two-timing obsession with the future or the past.

I’m always amazed by how tough it is to stay centered in the now.  No matter how aware I am of the added quality and depth of my moments when I focus on what’s happening in this moment, the pull to worry or reflect about future or past is often irresistible.  I know it’s all perfect, part of a plan that is divine beyond understanding in helping me remember my truth about being human.  I like to think of it as part of the total entertainment package, the perfectly-orchestrated challenges that allow us to choose our best selves.

Playing with being in present time as much as I can is a wonderfully satisfying and creative endeavor.  When my attention is pulled back from future or past, I can place my full attention on being; now I experience what it is like to be a teacher, as I choose to be fully present in that expression.  Now I delight in being female, as my attention rests in what that feels like and how I express it.  Fixing my hair and choosing jewelry is sure a lot more fun when I’m in present time, with my attention on enjoying my femaleness rather than what I I'll be doing at work later.

As I sit here, present in the now, I find joy in very simple things.  My feelings are a validation of myself, being me.  There is no judgment or resistance, only what is.  I am grateful to be able to experience, period.  

I have hands that type these words, and do countless other amazing things.  In present time having a body is a celebration, not always easy or painless but an unspeakable gift nonetheless.

May you be present in your moments, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Not I, But God Within Me

So many times I've despaired over things that I don’t do well enough, or despite my best intentions still manage to get stuck on!  Human experience being what it is, we all have challenges; some of them are pretty easily solved and some take years and years to navigate through. 

In the middle of our own particular challenges, we can feel unsure about our ability to find a solution.  Whether it’s something new or something we’ve been dealing with for awhile, challenges are challenging exactly because they require us to dig deeply within ourselves and change how we’ve been thinking.  Challenges are opportunities to let go of old patterns and open up to new ways of seeing our experience that better reflect the truth of who we really are.

Still, slogging through difficult and confusing situations is uncomfortable, especially if they’re those “core” beliefs that seem to take an act of God to finally see the truth about.  But I’ve learned, and keep remembering, that an act of God is exactly what’s needed.

In each act of remembering and in every moment of grace, it is not I, but God within me, who does the work.  In my most sad, confused or frustrated moments, when I feel like I’m going to feel this way forever because I just can’t seem to figure out how to do it differently, if I can place my awareness back to God within me, I no longer need to figure anything out, because there is nothing that I lack.  Any sense of lack or forgetting is swept aside by a much larger truth that perfect and divine consciousness guides my thoughts and actions, and I know just what to do. 

When I remember that God within me is doing the work, my burden is light and my path is clear.  I realize that in each moment everything I require is available to me, and I am whole and complete.  All I need do is claim it!

The change in thinking that I sought today was this:  I know what to do because there is no idea or answer that I lack.  It can be no other way. 

And as is the case when I get back to remembering, I was brought again to heaven, right here on Earth.   I love that we can do that!

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Celebrating!

There is always something to celebrate. Celebration is a form of gratitude; it's a way of acknowledging our unlimited ability to create and opening ourselves up to our best and highest expression. To me, celebrating is a form of prayer, a way of saying “Thank you, God” for the gifts we’ve been given. It’s a validation of the goodness and God-ness that makes up our human experience.

I’m a fan of the happy dance. When my mom recently got good news after having trouble getting her car smogged, I did the happy dance. When my husband got a bonus check yesterday that was unexpected, we did a big, loud high-five in celebration. In my family we often toast each other over dinner, with our glasses of water or whatever we are drinking, just to celebrate sitting there eating, and being together. “Tuesday” is a wonderful reason to celebrate. Random acts of gratitude can be large or small in expression, and they reconnect us with the truth of all that we can do, be and have.

Today is my birthday, and that is something to celebrate. I don’t think grown-ups have nearly enough permission to celebrate their own birthdays. This morning driving to work I danced to the radio, sitting there behind the wheel looking very foolish, I’m sure, to others driving by, happy in the awareness that I have experienced another year being me. Happy, too, knowing that today begins another year growing in my awareness of the perfect good from which this existence is created.

As my family sang happy birthday to me last weekend over the lighted candles on the birthday cake, I felt tremendous gratitude, for all of them, and for my precious life. The happy birthday song was a celebration of all of us, for being here now, filling the world with our own unique voices.

May you celebrate all of the large and small things in your life (especially your birthday!), and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Finding the Life in Your Life Situation

I love the wisdom of Eckhart Tolle.  I am currently reading for the second time his book, "The Power of Now," and am discovering some wonderful insights that I somehow missed the first time through.

Tolle, and many others, teach that the ego-driven mind is the basis for all that separates us from knowing ourselves, and all others, as God.  It's an interesting and powerful idea.  The mind, which is the cause of all suffering, is also our most powerful vehicle for getting out of suffering.  It is through the fearful thoughts of forgetting that we are provided the grace of remembering who we are.

In the Now all is well, for in this very moment, what is lacking?  Lack exists only as a construct of time, in the future or from the past.

What delights me and puts it into great perspective is that regardless of life circumstances, regardless of what we've carried from the past or are concerned about in the future, underlying all is that we are here.  We live.

Situations exist in our thinking, and are subject to change from moment to moment depending on the random places our thoughts travel to.  In the middle of all of those engrossing thoughts we could spend an entire lifetime so focused on the details of living that we forget that we are life.

That mysterious, vibrant being is us, as we move through our days choosing our course and experiencing the effects of our decisions.  In every moment our unique voice adds its resonance to the harmony of ongoing creation.  The whole is forever changed because we are.

Underneath life's situations we breathe; we feel and learn and grow.  Time moves on and situations change, but through it all, God sings her song of infinite joy through our beating hearts.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Hearing God's Whisper

As we move through this blessed life, growing in love and wisdom and in truth, the situations we encounter to help us along on our path can be complicated, confusing, and sometimes painful. These challenges provide our perfect opportunities to remember the highest in ourselves.

In the middle of our biggest challenges it can be pretty tough to see that we are being given exactly what we need to choose our best selves. We work hard to find an answer so that we can be comfortable again.

We give the issue at hand a lot of energy by trying to reason our way through it, talk our way through it, or worry our way through it. We get stuck in what happened in the past, or what might happen in the future. Whatever the issue is, it grows stronger with all of the attention we place on it.

By grace, and through divine order, the profound answers we seek make their way through the clamor, often in the most gentle ways. Sometimes in the middle of chaos our answers come from unexpected places, a few sentences in a book, words from a friend, or the quiet voice of our own deep knowing.

I was reminded this morning of a song that I heard at Unity recently, sung by our very talented music director, David, whose music is always an inspiration and a healing.

The song is entitled “More Like a Whisper”, by Scott Krippayne and Steve Siler.

“Sometimes the mountain moves and is thrown into the sea,
Sometimes the lightning strikes and a vision comes to me,
Sometimes the waters part and the path ahead is clear,
Sometimes the angels sing and it’s music to my ears.

Sometimes it’s more like a whisper, quiet and gentle, peaceful and still,
When questions rain down like thunder, sometimes the answer is more like a whisper.

Sometimes one candle burns and a light glows in the dark,
Sometimes a flower blooms, bringing hope into my heart.

Lord, help me listen whenever You speak,
If the river runs wild or is silent and deep.

Sometimes it’s more like a whisper, quiet and gentle, peaceful and still,
When questions rain down like thunder, sometimes the answer is more like a whisper.”

May you know the ever-present grace that provides all of the answers you seek, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Seeing Yourself Through the Eyes of God


I haven’t written in a few weeks, and I have missed it.  After some suggestions from friends, I took a short break to begin the process of turning Daily Spiritual Tools into a book.  I’m excited by the prospect of having these tools in one physical place where a person can actually flip through the pages of something solid.  Wish me luck!

I discovered a new tool a few weeks ago, when I was feeling very cranky.  I think all of us go through times when nothing seems right, and it was my time.  I was feeling worn out in my job and out-of-sorts in my relationships.  I felt like I was struggling with the same old things that I’ve struggled with for years, and not getting anywhere.  It was a pretty depressing state of mind.

I know that what I think is not always the truth, and I’m learning to loosen my attachment to the thoughts going by in my mind.  Still, sometimes they take on a life of their own, grab me and take me down a very unhelpful road.

I sat down in my favorite spot to meditate, with the intention of settling myself and finding my way back to the truth.  At first, I just sat and let myself hear the pessimistic dialog that was taking place in my head.  In that moment, everything was a problem.  Nothing was right with my life, or with me.  So I sat there, reminding myself to just notice what I was thinking and feeling without trying to talk myself out of it.

As I focused my attention on the thoughts and feelings that were moving through me, I noticed how my grumpy thoughts were feeding the jangling emotions, and the emotions in turn were continuing the negative thinking.  What a vicious cycle.  Somebody, stop me!

Thank Goodness for awareness, for as I continued to focus my attention on where I was without trying to change anything, a thought came to me in the form of a question, which was “If my life is an expression of God, if this is really God in the middle of these thoughts and feelings, what does God think about living as Sherry?”

God laughed, a big belly-laugh of delight, and I experienced again the miracle that comes every time the light of truth finds a new way to shine on me, and to remind me of who I am, and who we all are.

I knew in that moment an all-encompassing love that I truly have no words for, and I felt God’s joy in every single thing that goes along with being me.  I was reminded of the unfathomable depth of love that created this existence, and guides and supports us throughout every breath we take.  We are perfection in every moment, in every thought we have and every emotion we feel, and in every single experience we have.  

 To remember this always (or at least as often as possible), and to help others remember it too. . .That is my quest!

May you see yourself through the eyes of God within you, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Thursday, March 31, 2011

What Would My Best Self Do?

It's a tongue-in-cheek name for a spiritual tool, but also a simple guidepost for living our days in as much harmony as possible.  Even though I know that God lives as me just as she did as Jesus, I find that asking what my best self would do seems more relevant.  It also feels much more attainable.

It's interesting to consider that we even need to ask the question, because we could assume that we are always doing our best.  But I've noticed lately in practicing this that it brings forth a better best, as I connect with the higher truth that is always there, waiting to be acknowledged.

I'm grateful for the powerful simplicity of this tool.  In the midst of my mind clamoring from one problem to the next, asking "what would my best self do?" brought immediate peace as I realized that my best self would not give so much importance to the worried side trips that my mind often takes.  What I had thought needed alot of my energy to solve actually needed none, so I had all of that energy to focus on experiencing joy in my day.

In my rising frustration with a patient at work, asking "what would my best self do?" helped me in an instant regain my compassion and my ability to allow that person to be without my judgment.  My agenda lost all importance as I realized how much more I could bring to the interaction by just being open to whatever the other person is bringing me in the moment.  I'm realizing that being present for someone out of judgment is the best thing we can give anyone.

I've noticed that asking "what would my best self do?" takes me out of the very automatic place where I am just reacting from old fears and beliefs.  As I focus on choosing my best I don't need to make anyone else less in my thinking, because my best self sees God in myself and in all things.

Considering what our best selves would do is a prayer, and always answered when asked.  I'm always surprised and grateful, delighted actually, by how easily these answers come when I do think to ask.  My highest lives right here within me, as me, always accessible.  All I need to do is say hello.

Asking, and then choosing to follow through with the answer that we get, allows us to live from our deepest integrity.  From that place of truth and wholeness, we do our best work in the world, and more fully express the glory of our own sacred lives.

What would your best self do?

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Monday, March 21, 2011

Releasing, Revisited

I was speaking with my husband this morning about how important and useful it is to have tools that help us to release. Being human is by its very nature a process of being surrounded by countless different variations of spiritual energy. Spiritual energy can be thought of in this context as the circumstances and vibrations that spirit creates to assist us in remembering our true divine nature.

Human beings are extremely sensitive, energy-processing machines. We process the energy that we encounter with varying degrees of conscious choice, depending on our level of awareness. With awareness we are able to affect, rather than become the effect of, the thoughts, moods and beliefs that we encounter on a moment-to-moment basis.

Knowing how to release is critical because as sensitive beings, we pick up a barrage of energetic “input” all the time. We are affected by what is going on around us, even though it may have nothing at all to do with us. When this happens our own life force can get “bogged down,” and we may feel less enthusiastic and clear about our path. It becomes harder to stay grounded in our own truth.

Once we’ve picked something up in our energy field, its vibration becomes active in our own awareness until we’re able to release it. And vibrations of energy can stay with us for a long time, especially if we’ve accepted them as true.

Thankfully, we can release them. A favorite tool of mine for releasing is a grounding cord, which I described in this blog in January, 2010. With a grounding cord we use our clairvoyant ability, or “seeing,” to visualize a line of energy between our first chakra and the center of the planet to let go of what we are holding on to that does not serve our highest. You can take a look at the January 18 post for more information.

Another favorite tool is simply turning an issue over to God. When I notice that I am worrying about something beyond my control, I consciously release it to be handled by divine consciousness. In these moments, I find peace reconnecting with the truth that there is a higher consciousness at work in the situation. And with that acknowledgement, I bring light to the situation, even as I step back from feeling the need to solve it myself.

Prayer and meditation are powerful tools for helping us release. Prayer is for many a way of letting go, and letting God. The act of focusing on our breathing in meditation allows us to surrender the worries of the world, and reset our own vibration to our deepest truth.

Many simple and fun things help us to release. Journaling, singing, playing music and even dancing allow us to shake off the energetic vibrations that can overshadow our truth.

Our Unity services often close with a very catchy song about releasing that goes, in part, like this. . .

I release with ease and grace,
What no longer serves me,
And open up to God’s abundant good!

May you release with ease and grace, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Friday, March 11, 2011

The Healing Energy of Mary

There are countless beings, spirit guides, angels, or whatever name we want to give these points of divine consciousness that very greatly affect the vibrational quality of our human experience.  These beings of light, who from beyond the reality of form exert their benevolent influence for good, are available to each of us in raising our own vibration to align with the truth of who we are, and what we are capable of as physical expressions of the divine.

Mother Mary has been an important guiding light in my life for many years.  When I studied hands-on healing at the Aesclepion Healing Institute, Mary was one of the guides whose energy we called upon to bring forth spiritual healing.  The influence of spirit guides' energy is available to each of us, regardless of our religious or spiritual background.

These helpful spirit guides exist as pure energy, and they hold a very high and unshakeable vibration of truth.  All we have to do is place our awareness on it, and then allow ourselves to "match" it.  Just as we can hold our awareness on Jesus, or Buddha, or on any of our other wayshowers, we can hold our awareness on Mary, say hello to her very high vibration of truth, and then let it fill us.  That is all.

What I notice in saying hello to Mary is that hers is an immensely powerful vibration of healing.  I cannot acknowledge Mary's vibration without being filled with immediate peace, and the sense that I have her complete attention as I am held in light and love.  Fear subsides in that strong presence of mother/protector, and my human frailty and forgetting are blessed.  I find renewed joy in coming to my experience as a child, delighting in my toddler's steps as eternal spirit expressing as. . . me.

My son's girlfriend, Camille, an amazing young woman, beautiful and talented, sang for us recently a version of Ave Maria arranged by Noa.   It touched me deeply, both listening to Camille's angelic voice which brings tears, and to the lyrics which speak well to the vibration of Mother Mary.

Ave Maria, where have you been hiding?
Don't you know we need you!
Things are looking pretty bad down here.
I know that there is beauty, gentleness and laughter.
These are things you always stood for.
Help us find them too.

Ave Maria, where have you been hiding?
Don't you know we need you!
Things are looking pretty bad down here.
I know you hear the fighting, see the torch we're lighting,
On our quest for peace and freedom.
Help us see this through.

The energy of Mary is available to us at any time, to help us find peace, and to remember especially that we are never alone.  Mother Mary reminds us, by holding her eternal vibration of truth, that we are children of the divine, forever loved and safe.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Monday, March 7, 2011

Surrendering

I have said that I write to remember, and this morning I stopped everything I was doing to put words to paper, so that much like taking a photograph of some beautiful scene in the high mountains that I love so much, I could capture my awareness of the gift of surrendering.

Not that I can ever really capture spiritual awareness through my words, because spirit is a state of being. As soon as I begin trying to define my experience, labeling it in the mind's way, I am holding it static. Already I am out of present time, because spirit just continues being, and creating anew.

But I continue writing, because just like with a picture of a beautiful scene in nature that I can go back and look at anytime, I am reminded of the truth of what is always there, even if I am not seeing it in any particular moment.

In my meditation this morning, I decided to acknowledge some of the things that I am grateful for. As I saw things in my mind and said thank you for each of them, I realized how long that process took. And I was only focusing on things that are happening in my life now.  My gratitude list is long!

It led me to ponder how all of this could have come to pass. How, in the middle of living a very ordinary life, filled with forgetting and confusion, worries about money, misunderstandings, working and raising kids and being so busy I didn't have time to even think about tomorrow, let alone being an unlimited creator made in God's image, immensely good things came to me anyway. What is the source, and the purpose, of those gifts that seem to have come from somewhere beyond my conscious intention?

Much like the gift of the breath that keeps coming, unbidden, filling us with life even while we are completely unaware of it, unimaginably good opportunities and situations come unbidden, too.

What I realized this morning was that during all of those early years, when I was doing so much and just trying to get through my days with a little bit of grace, I somehow knew to surrender. Somehow I knew, even before I embarked on a more conscious spiritual journey, that when I bumped into something I didn’t understand or couldn’t change, I had to let it go and move on. And along with that came the awareness that things would happen in their own perfect way and time. The wonderful realization is that I can look back and see that somehow they always did!

Even when I wasn’t completely clear about what I wanted, I knew to surrender what I didn’t want, and that made room for infinite intelligence to work through me to create many things in my life that exceeded any expectations I would have had if I had held on and continued struggling.

I realized that choosing to pull my energy out of a situation when I felt stuck has served me well countless times. It gave me time to rest and regroup, while unlimited good was at work behind the scenes.  I was reminded yet again that my good will always come to me no matter how stuck I get. I just have to surrender to the infinite wisdom within me.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Owning Your Abundance

I am struck sometimes when I consider the magnitude of the abundance that upholds this human experience.  Abundance is an inherent part of the divine consciousness that conceived of and maintains all of existence.

We could never be less than wholly abundant beings.  Life in its infinitely perfect way provides the challenges and the forgetting that support us in choosing to claim the abundance that is our birthright.  Our abundance expresses in our unlimited ability to create our experience.  What we envision, and hold as truth, we will manifest.  It is very hard for the human part of us to grasp the creative power of that.

That we are unlimited creators made in God's image, and can bring into being anything that we can imagine, is a miracle and a great joy.  It is also the guidepost for my own life's journey, as it is for many.

In my fledgling steps toward realizing the absolute truth of our human divinity, I think the most grace-ful thing that I have learned is that, paradoxically, creating is best done out of effort.  In fact, the less effort there is, the better it works.  I am very good at pushing, forcing, exerting my will, and worrying and fussing until I make something happen.  It is the habit that I fall back to when fear takes over and I begin reacting.  It's my default position, and also a very big waste of energy.  And it gets in the way of creating.

We are meant to envision our dreams, and then allow them to manifest; that is all.  That means trusting and letting go.  The things that I've most doubted I could create, but did, are the ones that I had to release to God within me, over and over and over again.  From many great teachers I have learned that it is not I, but God within me, that does the work.

In the end, abundance is having complete faith in the truth that as we ask we will be answered.  We likely won't be able to predict exactly each step of how it's going to happen.  But our intention is a knock on the door of infinite creative consciousness, and it is always opened unto us.

Abundance in this life comes from believing that we already possess that we desire.  There is nothing that separates us from our dreams.  Once we decide what it is that we really want, all we need do is step back and let it come.

This truth sits squarely in the middle of my most fundamental beliefs, but that doesn't mean I remember it always.  But I remember it often, and every time is a gift.  Every time I fear that maybe this is the time it won't work, maybe this is the time when I've come to the end of what I can do, or be or have in this life, but it does come to pass because I've released the limiting beliefs to the light of creation within me, my trust grows stronger for the next time.

So tonight I am, as always, grateful for the forgetting that allows me to remember.

May you own the limitless creative consciousness within you, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Friday, February 18, 2011

Taking Risks

I am grateful to spirit's infinite wisdom for guiding me, repeatedly, off the path of least resistance.  I am not by nature a risk-taker.  It seems that I would be perfectly happy settling in to what I know and what I do, and enjoying my peaceful and relatively stress-free life.  That would all be fine and good, if not for the small voice within me that keeps pushing me out of my comfort zone.  Darn that voice!

The voice within has a habit of insisting on change, and growth, and pushing me forward when I really just want to coast for a bit.  I can ignore the voice for awhile, but while the voice is small, it is also very insistent.  For only so long can I disregard the urgings of that voice, which is the best and highest within me, the voice of God's expression.  After a time thoughts of "I can't," "I'm not ready," and "I don't know how" seem to give way, despite my repeated protests, to a new direction.

I've learned by now that I wouldn't actually be happier just settling in and maintaining the status quo.  The biggest gifts in my life have come when I've felt most uncertain that I had the ability to actually live up to what my heart was so strongly prompting me to jump into.  There have been wonderful dreams that seemed out of reach, but then some as-yet-untapped well of faith kept the dream alive while my personality caught up with what my spirit knew was right for me.

Follow your heart seems like trite advice, but there is profound wisdom in it.  From our hearts God speaks.  Oftentimes our hearts lead us into uncharted and seemingly-dangerous territory.  And our minds, always on guard to keep us safe, try to talk us out of going there.  But divine wisdom always knows which risks are worth taking.

I know the voice of my spirit's urging because it is, like all truth, steadfast.  It speaks over and over again until I"m ready to listen.  For as many times as I discount its gentle guidance in an attempt to stay secure in what I think I know, divine wisdom answers with another knock on my heart's door, reminding me of who I really am.

May you hear the gentle urgings of your spirit to risk all you thought you were, and may this tool be a blessing.