The Light That Never Leaves

 

Hello dear friends--

How can we trust that there is a light of Divine Wisdom and purpose underlying everything that happens in this life?  There are times when trusting that light comes easily, maybe on days when I haven't scanned the headlines on my computer, when I'm not worrying about anything, and when I feel like who I am in the world is enough to manage whatever comes.  

It's much harder to hold on to trust when our open hearts close down, shaken by the reality of a world that can feel entirely broken and unacceptable.  The loud voices of fear override the quiet voice of the soul.  This happens most noticeably in the middle of the  night, when my defenses are down.

I've realized that fear will always be here.  It's part of our curriculum in these physical bodies that are the perfect vehicles for our souls' evolution.  Fear is a difficult part of our experience, to be sure, but it always exists within and as a part of the light.  Fear serves a holy purpose, which is another important topic I'd like to explore in a future post.

The very first spiritual book I read was Emmanuel's Book by Pat Rodegast, which very generously set me on my path over three decades ago.  I remember Emmanuel suggesting that "the challenge is to sit in the darkness and believe in the light."  Yes and yes!   

When I'm reeling from life's painful things and the fear is loud, I remind myself that I can believe in the light, I can trust the light, even when it feels far away.   I remember that I can stay right here where I know light is, even though I can't touch the light right now.  That choice to own the light, the Divine Wisdom underlying everything, while in the midst of fear is probably the most creative, powerful choice that we can ever make. 

I would love to hear about the strategies you turn to for connecting with Divine Wisdom and your soul's truth.  Thanks for being here.

Many blessings,

Sherry  

 

Come as a Child

I think I’ve mentioned, maybe a time or two, that I find myself too busy at times. It’s a tendency I learned in childhood, taking on too much responsibility for things to try to keep my world safe. I’m not complaining; I’m definitely not the only person in the world who believes at times that she can hold it up single-handedly. That particular part of my personality has provided me with a good deal of compassion, and a desire to make things better in my own small way, among other things. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn what I learn from it, and continue looking for balance in my life.

Last night I came home from work feeling stressed, and really looking forward to my meditation time. I was aware that I needed to stop for awhile, but more than that I also felt that I needed some help with all of it. I was too burdened, in that moment, to even know what kind of help I was seeking. I was eager to just sit and rest, and let the answers come.

As I closed my eyes and grounded my body, the voice of God within me reminded me clearly to keep it simple, and come as a child. I felt instantly eased as my body caught up with the fact that I could be very gentle in my attention to myself, because there was nothing else to be concerned about. As I sat in communication with the God of my heart, I was able to be the center of my own universe, knowing that all existed for my good, much like a child involved in some kind of wonderful, creative play. In my simple meditation, I watched as my own electric blue life force energy coursed through my body, aware at the same time of Father/Mother God standing over my shoulder, watching over me, shielding me, and orchestrating everything for good.

I know myself as a child of God, made in her image, creator without limit of my own sacred life. But I don’t think I’d ever perceived myself as God’s child, beloved, precious and safe, seeing myself as God does, without the need to do anything to earn my place here. I sometimes think that all human worry stems from the very common but flawed thinking that if we could just fulfill some role a little better we just might be allowed to stay.

There’s a part in Neale Walsch’s Coversations With God in which God says, “You can’t hear my truth until you stop telling me yours.” I believe that’s what happened last night in my meditation. When I finally released my own agenda, stopped trying to control the outcome of everything in my thinking, and just sat quietly waiting for the truth I sought, the voice of my knowing reminded me that we are, all of us, held in the benevolent hands of infinite good. I know in my head that I am safe, and that divine intelligence is at work. But I really appreciate those times when I know it in my heart, and my body, as well. It’s balm for the soul of the scared child that exists as a part of me, and for the fairly capable grown-up who sometimes needs a very solid reminder that she, and the rest of this planet, are safe in the perfect design of ongoing creation.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Belonging

We all feel a sense of belonging in this life to varying degrees, to our spouses or partners, children, birth families, friends, communities, ethnic groups and cultures.  We strive to belong, as it is a very basic human need.  It provides not only safety and security, but also the opportunity to know ourselves more fully by noticing how we are seen by others, through their own life's lenses.

The truth is that the moment we draw our first breath in this world, we belong.  As children of the earth, we join the ranks of all others who have molded this gift of life into our best vision.  We belong to that very holy family of spiritual beings having a human experience, encountering myriad paths, trials, tribulations, and joys and sorrows along the way.

From where we sit as children of the earth, the world can seem very big indeed, our perspectives divergent, and others' ways difficult to understand.  But from farther out, the worldly belonging that we share pales in comparison to the common spark we share as children of creation.  Our being here, as we know it, is as our neighborhood playground is to the entire universe.  That is not meant to diminish the tremendous joy of playing at the playground, swinging high on the swings until I'm not sure I'll be able to walk straight when I stop.  My husband and I still do that sometimes, and it's a whole lot of fun.  But our belonging is much more profound.

I told a group of friends the other night that in those fleeting moments when I completely trust the God of creation in all things, it doesn't really matter if I am here, or somewhere else.  In those moments, I am aware that as a child of creation, my existence here is only a small part of all that I am.  As children of God, we are made of the consciousness that conceived all that is, the seen and the unseen, the known and the unknown, being, or ceasing to be.  We all embody the spark of light that contains all future and all past, transcends them, and just is.

May you rest in knowing yourself as the light of creation, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Love

I read a quote whose author I don't remember that said our reason for being here is to grow in love.  I remembered the quote, at least in paraphrase, because it was so simple.  There has been so much written over eons on the subject of loving - wonderful, insightful, inspirational things, some of which have provided me with raw material to mull over and see what feels true to me.

That we are here to grow in love has felt true to me for a good long time, but that truth came to me in a deeper way today.  I hadn't talked with the God of my heart about the "Why am I here?" question in quite awhile, and was feeling like I wanted a clear sense of it, in present time.  I have done many of the things I've intended to do, and was feeling the need to consider a next step.  It's pretty easy for me to get caught up in "OK, what next," which is not a bad thing entirely, because it allows me to focus on things that are important to me.  Sometimes, though, I think the tendency sort of clouds the big picture.

I asked God why I chose to be me, now, in my current situation, with my unique perspective and particular life experience.  And God answered in my heart, with eloquence and grace, as always:

"You wanted to learn about love, in the biggest sense of the word.  For loving yourself unconditionally, you sought a difficult childhood.  For knowing a mother's deep and profound love, you have your children.  You have created a healthy and joyful marriage.  You are learning about love by loving people at those times when they are less-than-lovable, and when they are at their best.  And in your life you strive to see the love of God expressing in all things.  Can you see how completely you are living your life's purpose?"

As I always am when I talk with the God of my heart, I was struck.  The meaning of life became simple all over again, and for that I am filled with even more gratitude (if that is possible) for being here in the middle of the countless, amazing miracles that are part of my very ordinary life.

I would love to some day remember this truth in every moment.  That probably won't happen.  But as I've said, I write to remember.  Writing at times is like taking a photograph of a breathtakingly beautiful scene I've witnessed and then having it to hold and go back to.  When I look at one of those photographs I am brought right back to the truth of the beauty that we are part of.  In writing I also feel as if I hold the beauty and grace of this life in my hands.

So the big question is answered, yet again.  Tonight I'll be comfortable being just where I am, in the peace where love is enough.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Why Not Now?

Every moment that we are alive is a brand new opportunity to create our reality.  I've known that, and I've practiced it as much as I'm able at my present level of awareness.  But I think I'm just beginning to gain the barest understanding of what that really means.  The truth that we are unlimited creators seeking to express the God within is my foundation, giving meaning to all that I see and do in my life.  It provides for me the answer to my most heartfelt what-is-the-meaning-of-life questions.  And while I believe that humanity is on a course of not only discovering this truth, but owning it in the deepest parts of ourselves, it's surreal when I attempt to envision what that truly means.

If I am limited only by my beliefs about what is real or possible, then every single fear that I have is groundless.  Consider that.  If I claim dominion over what I hold to be the truth, then every seeming fault in my personality, all of the things I'm trying to figure out or get right, or the limiting thoughts that keep me from pursuing my wildest dreams, are of my own making and never have to restrict me again.

I'm not sure how a human being releases all of that fear, but why not start now?  I believe that we could change not only our own lives but the whole world, if we all agreed to stop being in fear.  We could even change our health and our longevity with different thinking, because our bodies react at a cellular level to the thoughts that we hold.

I know this is a big step in our evolution, and it likely won't happen tomorrow, but it could, and it is.  As with everything, the growth I see within myself I witness outside of myself as well.  When I notice myself in old, fearful thinking and take just a moment to deny it using any of the tools mentioned in this blog or elsewhere, it's a very simple process, but profound in its results.  When I choose to affirm that all is for good, the sky doesn't fall and life goes on as normal.  But it is nothing less than a miracle moment.  Usually a quiet miracle moment, known consciously only to me, when I am simultaneously my normal self moving on to the next thing, but also reborn.  I'm finding it to be a very gentle space, one that doesn't seem earth-shaking but feels right.  I'm finding that joy is how life is supposed to feel.

All we have is now, to do the things we've always wanted to do, and to know how great we really are.  The universe was created to support us in this process.  Heaven on Earth is there, in remembering that we can pursue our wildest dreams.  Why not now?

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Self-Acceptance

The divine purpose of having our wondrous physical bodies is to know ourselves as unique expressions of God.  In order to expand into our awareness of the truth of our God nature, we must first experience ourselves as less.  Being human is rife with opportunities to forget who we really are.

Throughout life we face situations that challenge our ability to see ourselves as whole and perfect.  We are always striving to "get it right."  The trick is to remember that it's always right, even when it's all messed up.  In all of our struggling and striving, it helps to remember that it is meant to be this way.  Without knowing doubt we would never have the certainty to grow into our best selves.

I was reminded of this today talking with my son, Eric, who is a very talented 20 year-old musician.  He has been feeling alot of joy in expanding his musical abilities, and feeling confident about his path.  About a month ago, he hit a wall.  A few things happened that shook his confidence.  Instead of  feeling joy in his music, he began to doubt his decision to pursue that course of study.  He couldn't stop the voice in his head that kept telling him he wasn't good enough, and actually found himself playing worse than he had in a long time.

He spoke to my husband and me about it, and I like to think that our gentle reminder that the voice is not the truth, and to just acknowledge it and let it go, helped a little.  I know that he didn't really need any advice.  But in the middle of things like that, it's hard to keep our heads up, let alone know ourselves as anything even close to God-like!

My son told us that everyone hits times in their lives when they don't feel good enough.  He wasn't sure exactly how to restore his shaken confidence, but he knew that he would.  He said he was glad it happened early in his life so that he can get past it, and then next time he'll know that he can.  What wisdom from a very capable young man, recognizing the gift in a very unwelcome situation.

I recently bumped into a prayer on self-acceptance, written by Robert and Janet Ellsworth, which spoke to my heart:
"Help me to admit mistakes without feeling shame, and to recognize that they come to teach me.
Help me to find my own voice, to say what I mean and mean what I say.
Help me to see the good and laugh at myself and my life more.
Help me to discover my gifts and honor the uniqueness of others.
Help me to accept who I am, a beloved and special being in Your eyes.
And above all, help me to remain patient and gentle with myself."

I think Eric did a good job of that!

May we all be gentle with ourselves as we compose our life's melodies, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Forgiving

I woke up from an interesting dream this morning.  I dreamed that I was with a group of people and we were writing a story together.  It was being recorded on paper, for some reason 14 lines per page.  Someone suggested that the next thing in the story be to forgive.  I didn't feel that forgiving should be written into the story at that point, without any context explaining it being there.  People were talking amongst themselves, and I said something like, "In order to forgive, we need to have had someone do something that was not in our best interest, and then we need to remember that they are worthy of a place in our heart, and then we can create a space to forgive."  Everyone stopped talking and started taking notes, and I woke up.  

I've writtten about forgiveness before.  One of the things this dream reminded me of was to take note of  the quiet truth of my heart, rather than the much louder promptings of my thinking.  Another thing that the dream caused me to remember is that I call people into my life in order to experience forgiving, or anything else.  As with everything, even those situations where people don't have my best interest at heart, are called forth by me, to create the opportunity for me to choose how I want to show up. I could never know myself as forgiving if I'd never had a reason to forgive.  I could never really know peace if I'd never known chaos.  And so it goes.

I also realized that there are layers of forgiving.  I can decide to forgive, and feel like I have, but then suddenly feel hurt or angry over what I thought I'd forgiven.  In order to really release something, I must first look directly at it, be honest with myself about why I am being so affected by it, and feel my feelings about it.  It doesn't help to avoid the very situations I've called to myself in order to grow.

I am struck often by the grace that allows us the ability to choose what expressing ourselves as God actually looks like.  Over and over throughout time, we decide.  Every situation is an opportunity to choose who we are, and who we want to be.  We are gifts to each other in our awakening.

I came away from that dream renewed by the peace that comes from knowing that the best interest of my soul could never be thwarted.  And I am again grateful for the gifts I have been given, in their many and varied packages.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Fear Not

I asked God what I should write about today, and She said, "Fear Not."  I thought that a fitting topic, because while finding ourselves in fear has always been a necessary part of remembering who we are, there sure does seem to be alot more of it banging around lately.  It's not always easy in the middle of some fear-based reaction to stay calmly centered and tell ourselves that we're much bigger than it is.  In the moment, all we see is the monster's big teeth and we know we're just seconds from being lost for good.

I remember, way back in my early 20's, reading a book that changed my life.  It's called Emmanuel's Book, A Manual for Living Comfortably in the Cosmos, by Pat Rodegast and Judith Stanton.  Pat Rodegast channels a being named Emmanuel, and his teachings cover many topics.  At that time in my life, before I had begun my search for truth, and before I had any tools for understanding the events of my childhood, Emmanuel's words were, quite literally, a balm for my soul.  The words gave me hope where, looking back, hope was so lost that I didn't even know it was gone. 

Emmanuel's Book sparked in me a sometimes difficult, but mostly joyous quest for truth that has lasted since.  And the words that hooked me are, "You are safe, you are safe, you are safe."  I read that and even though it took me many years to finally own that truth for myself, the words opened a possibility in me that grew stronger and stronger, gradually opening me to a truth that gets sweeter every year I live.

We are safe.  If we could but remember that, God within would dance alot more.  When I remember that I am the creator of my experience, and that I have chosen fear as part of my path to knowing my own greatness, it is transformed to a gift I give myself.  Fear is created by me, and through me, and for me. 

Fear is a choice, and that is a powerful perspective.  In any moment we can choose fear, or faith.  Fear is just being temporarily stuck in a lie.  Faith, and love, are truth.  We say in Unity that fear has no power over me, and I know that is true because even though I get temporarily stuck, I created all of it as part of my divine path of forgetting and remembering.  I can get unstuck!  Even in the middle of the most trying circumstances that life can dish out, we are safe, we are safe, we are safe.

I am, as always, profoundly grateful to the many teachers I've been blessed to encounter in my life.  If in writing my truth I can give back even a bit of what I've been given, I am happy.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Guarding Your Mind

Unity is a big source of inspiration for me, as I'm sure you've noticed reading my posts.  Reverend Ken mentioned today that  "you need to guard your mind," and it jumped out at me as an important spiritual tool.  As I took it, guarding my mind means being the sentry at the gate, protecting my mind from any thoughts that diminish me, or others, or the world.  It is choosing to be that ever-vigilant, benevolent guardian that always serves the truth.

I am very aware of wanting to be the crafter of my own thoughts, and thereby bring my own dreams to light.  But it is so very easy to get caught up in speaking or thinking in ways that I don't even really want any part of.  I catch myself doing it all the time.  It's an interesting place, that moment when I recognize that I am holding something as true that I certainly don't want to perpetuate into the future.  But habit, or the old need to please others by not disagreeing with them, or some other form of unconscious, fear-based response kicks in and there I am again on auto-pilot.

I like the idea of being my own benevolent protector guarding my experience and serving truth.  To do that, I realize that I need to be more committed to being watchful of the words and thoughts that I don't want to give life to, and deny them, regardless of who might not agree, or understand.

As probably happens in many workplaces, among my coworkers the conversation lately turns fairly often to the economy, job losses, cities needing to eliminate emergency personnel, programs in public education being cut, the world going to hell in a handbasket.  I have many times joined in with the tsk-tsking, and nodded my head in agreement.  Surely, it is sad.  It is scary.  But that is not the reality I wish to seal our future with.  I am no longer in agreement to acquiescing, not even to a nod of the head.

I spoke to my dad a few days ago, and he was worrying about my husband's job (he's a public school administrator), and talking about how bad things are getting, people wanting to carry guns, and other things that the fear-promoting media is so adept at focusing on.

I am happy to say I didn't buy into the fear of the moment.  I told him that we trust the outcome and that the best will happen.  I told him that we are choosing not to participate in the recession, and that we will continue to look for the gift in all of it, because this life is nothing if not an amazing, enriching and wonderful gift.  At the end of the conversation my dad, who is an avid follower of the television news, said he was going to do something else with his time, and we both affirmed the perfection and divine order that we are part of, each in our own way.

That conversation could have gone a very different way, had I not been guarding my mind, and very consciously choosing the truth I wish to serve.  It would have been easy to just agree.  But in making a conscious decision to choose the reality I see and speak of that, his perspective was lifted, and mine, and the planet's.

I am grateful yet again for another tool in remembering the unlimited potential we have in creating the world we choose to see.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Enlighten Up!

Most of us know at least one person who has the uncanny timing and ability to lighten the mood in a group of people, to raise the vibration when things start to get too serious. David, our music director at Unity, is like that. We can always count on him to keep things light with a spontaneous quip that gets us chuckling. He doesn’t take himself too seriously.

It is easy to regard ourselves and our life path with too much seriousness. I know I often do. It can seem like hard work at times, moving forward, trying to be the people we know in the deepest part of ourselves that we are, striving to be our best selves. We are taught that hard work brings results, and we apply that maxim to everything, including growing in our spiritual understanding. On the physical plane, hard work may accomplish results, but as unlimited creators of our experience, no more than our intention is needed to bring a dream to fruition. I need to enlighten up!

For me, there is absolutely nothing better than remembering that I don’t have to try so hard. We really don’t have to try at all. What a delicious truth, that perfection exists in and through everything, and we can just relax and bask in it. In our most peaceful, or most chaotic, days, divine order guides all. We can let go into the experience of all of it, comfortable or anxious, light-hearted or totally stuck. We have designed all of it as part of our soul’s playground.

I spent some time last night being incredibly grateful. I was thinking about some of the experiences I’d had yesterday, and became aware of the absolutely perfect way they provide me the opportunity to choose who I am, and who I want to be. In that moment, I knew myself as the designer of those experiences, every part of them, and I was God. There was no effort, because I knew that all that comes to me is good. I felt larger than I’ve ever been as I reviewed lifetimes of experience, and knew it was created not only by me, but though me, and also for me. It is all done for me. And I knew for just a few moments the profound love that called forth my being. I am forever changed.

May you know the lightness of being God’s love, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is the energy that turns the moments of our lives into magic.  Enthusiasm isn't something we must wait to feel; it is something we can cultivate as often as we remember.  I am always amazed by the incredible creative power we have, in each instant, to choose what we will experience.  In any moment, there are countless different things that could capture our attention.  We tend to focus on what we expect, based on past experience or what we've been taught.  In this way, experience can limit the flexibilty in how we see things.  We will always see what we expect, if we don't resist the temptation to believe everything we think.  Much of that thinking is old, outdated, and never originated with us anyway!

In order to be as fully open as possible to the gifts of this life, we must claim our power in creating a world of our own making.  We are not seeing the world as it is, we are making the world we see, based on our thoughts and beliefs about it.  Experience is not hard-wired, it is infinitely variable depending on what we decide to accept into awareness.

Right now I am delighted by the possibilities.  Am I struggling to find the right words, or am I writing with ease the thoughts that come from my heart?  This moment is an incredible gift in choosing my experience, and I send the vibration of that choice outward into ongoing creation.  How much importance and immediacy will I place on my awareness that my office is messy, and needs dusting?  There is no judgment here, for me just a decision about whether to deal with that now, or not.  Is needing to get ready for work soon an interruption in my enjoyment of the peace and warmth of the morning, or a valued opportunity for learning and growth, hearing the wonderful stories of my fellow travelers, and making my own contribution in the world?  In each moment there is the potential for any and all possibilities, but what I focus on dictates my experience.  It also creates the habit by which I begin to experience similar situations in the future.

Life is a struggle when in our awareness we are always responding to unwelcome situations that are thrust upon us to deal with.  When we choose to create our own experience instead of respond to the world according to a programmed set of expectations, it is so much easier to live in gratitude, enthusiasm, and ease.

So work awaits!  I will take the warmth of the sun, and the peace, with me through my day.  I will hold it in my awareness as I teach, and learn, and enjoy hearing the stories of the people I meet today.  And I will thank God for the ability to find the right words to gracefully convey the truth that I hold in my heart.

Today is the day that the Lord has made; rejoice and be glad in it!

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Getting Unstuck

Sometimes my old, habitual thought patterns hit me like a ton of bricks and take my breath away.  I intend to let them go; I even believe I have moved past them, only to have them jump out of the shadows when I least expect it.  I'm not talking about the small stuff.  I'm talking about those really huge fears that our intellect tells us can't possibly be true, but in that deeper, unconscious part of us where a seed of doubt has been planted, roots struggle to take hold.  It is that place of "but what if" all that I know in my heart is true about existence really isn't?  My knowing, and spiritual practice, usually keep this voice in perspective, but then some event suddenly triggers old, fearful thinking, and I am lost in it. 

The Berkeley Psychic Institute calls these "core pictures," the ideas we've accepted from outside of us that take us farthest from our truth, and seem the hardest to gain seniority over.  I know that these stuck places are what make us human, and provide moments of immeasurable grace when we re-claim the truth.  But when I'm in the middle of it, I'm just stuck.  And it makes me wonder, what do we do when we're in the middle of a big fat lie, but it really feels like the truth?  In that moment, what can we do to remember?

When I am stuck in a core picture, my first instinct is to fight it.  In an effort to not be uncomfortable, I try to convince myself that I am not stuck, and I end up making excuses, or competing, or trying to control the outcome.  Admitting to myself that I am stuck, in pain or in fear, is the most important part of getting unstuck.  It is a way to see the light in the darkness.  Once I acknowledge that I am lost, healing pours to me from countless sources, an unexpected hug, remembering to use a certain tool, or to slow down and be in tune with that my body needs in the moment. 

It is important in those moments to stop in order to let my answer come to me.  That means acknowledging that I am hurting and afraid, and that is not always easy to do.  But trying to override it doesn't help; what we try to avoid tends to pursue us with greater vigor.  As God said, through Neale Walsh in Conversations With God, "You can't hear my truth until you stop trying to tell me yours."

What I can do now, in my grace-filled moment of remembering, is be grateful that every time I have stopped and faced the monster that was chasing me, I have not been overcome, but held in love, restored to peace, and graced yet again with knowing a truth so sweet that I can't understand how I could ever have doubted it.

I know that I will find myself again in doubt, on my perfect path of forgetting and remembering.   And I give thanks in advance for the gift of getting stuck in darkness, and then finding my way to the light.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Declaring Yourself

When I was studying spiritual hands-on healing and clairvoyance at the Aesclepion Healing Institute, we practiced a technique called declaring yourself.  I was aware that this exercise creates more space to validate our unique expressions of being.  It is in effect a way to claim the space in creation to be our own extraordinary selves.

From that place where we are aware of being all that is, but also aware of being a unique person inhabiting a finite body, we declare ourselves using our names.  For me, it is "I AM, Sherry."  After spending some time quieting your thoughts and bringing your attention within, breathe deeply, and declare yourself to creation as many times as you feel comfortable with.  In this way, we bring our awareness of the vastness of our spirit into our human experience.

Eric Butterworth in The Creative Life explains a similar exercise of declaring our intention for ourselves in ongoing creation.  This exercise focuses on consciously denying our automatic negative thinking about who we are, and aligning with the truth of us, as expressions of all that is.  Habits of negative thinking are never the truth of us.  They come from ideas we've accepted throughout our lives, from various sources, all stemming from fear.  We can recognize our truth, though, because it always contains our highest thought.  When we are aware of a thought that comes from a lesser place, we can choose love, for the thought's source, and for ourselves for our forgetting.  In that moment we consciously create heaven on Earth.

Declaring yourself, from The Creative Life, is as follows:  "Take an inventory of negative or limiting declarations you have claimed for yourself.  You know your own list.  Recognize this is the conscious mind (the intellect) that judges by appearances and is not in tune with the creative flow.  Now turn them around using the words 'I AM.'  Identify yourself by the name of the Lord, I AM:

'I AM Life, vibrating as perfect health in every cell, organ and function of my body.'
'I AM the radiant Light of pure knowing.'
'I AM established in the divine flow of substance.'
'I AM protected.  I live under the shadow of the almighty.'
'I AM Love, and I AM secure in the energy of all true relationships.'

This is your creative genius, which knows its oneness with the Source (Infinite Mind, or God), and the words are powerful -- they are the spoken word of creation."

We always have a choice in the expression of ourselves that we paint onto the canvas of ongoing creation.  What picture of yourself do you want to bestow upon eternity?  Some of my declarations are that I am safe and protected as a blessed child of God, that I am a perfect and beautiful expression of light, and that the power of God the creator expresses in and through me.

Declaring yourself is claiming your best and highest as a being of light created in the image of God.  May your declarations always be worthy of you, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

God Is, I Am

We are blessed to live in a world filled with such light-filled people.  They have graced my life as amazing teachers, the authors of the many life-changing books I've read, enlightened souls I've encountered through this blog, all of my spiritual brothers and sisters.  I am deeply grateful, and acknowledge the profound joy of our collective being.

I was reminded again yesterday of a favorite author of mine, Eric Butterworth, and a simple and healing tool for focusing the light that is ever present in us.  As he explains in this book "The Creative Life,"  we can affirm and breathe, God Is, I Am. 

"Take a few moments with this breathing exercise:  On the inbreath, speak the words 'God is.'  Hold it . . . then, on the outbreath, affirm, 'I am.'  Hold it.  Repeat this several times.  Get the sense that you are vitally coupled with the energy of God's light.  With this centering in the light, you see with light.  And your seeing actually becomes a "light treatment" of all that you see.  . . .  (You) become synchronized with and in the stream of light that is everywhere present.  Now make a survey of your schedule for the day:  your appointments . . . contacts, projects and relationships.  As you hold them in the light one by one, you give to each one a 'light treatment.'  . . . The whole of Infinite Mind is within you -- and you have access to the wisdom of the ages."

This is good stuff!  When I practice this, I become aware of the light that is always within me and everywhere present.  The texture of everything in my awareness changes as I recognize the perfection in all of it.  I release concerns or considerations that are not my own, and there is no need to struggle over anything.  God is, and I am, in this moment of light.  I am an active participant in creation - an ongoing design of perfection.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Raising the Veil

There is a song by this title that we sing at Unity; it is one of my favorites . . . "I'm raising the veil, between me and my God, no separation, no distance at all; God is right here in my heart, I'm raising the veil."  I believe that within each of us is a deep yearning to know ourselves and each other as the magnificent children of light that we are.  Even when we are lost in forgetting, even when we are identifying very strongly with that which is not the highest we or the world have to offer, that need still burns. 

Our dreams of lack, the veil of forgetting who we are, create the perfect stage for recognizing what is not true of us.  In that sense all that comes to us is an answer to a prayer.  I love the idea of carrying God in my heart; God expresses through me when my soul is having a dark night, and when I know the light of her presence living as me.  Without darkness, we couldn't know light, and so both the veil, and its lifting, are answers to a prayer.

We can choose to experience that veil as an almost physical thing.  It is solid in its ability to separate us from our totality, but also very sheer fabric, easily pushed aside by changing our thinking.  I have viewed situations in this way before, where an instance of fear or pain is playing out on a small stage, and at its edge a curtain hides a much bigger, brighter creation.  The drama occurring on the small stage has immense value as an integral part of the sacred production unfolding.

We are meant to get caught up in believing that the drama developing on the small stage is our life, and defines who we are.  But we are not our struggles; we are pure spirit, able to step back and see ourselves as experiencing something, but at the same time acknowledging that the experience is not who we are.  Raising the veil and stepping out onto the grander stage of living as an unlimited creator made in God's image is a brave act.  When we stand up and claim that truth about ourselves and others, in their fear and forgetting many will say no, you are not.  We stand anyway.

My husband and I have a print on our living room wall that some may have seen; it is entitled "Fra Giovanni - Letter to a Friend - 1513."  It says, in part, ". . . The gloom of the world is but a shadow.  Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy.  TAKE JOY!  Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty . . . that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.  Courage to claim it, that is all!"

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Conversations With God

God speaks to my husband through song lyrics, but he has to work a bit for it.  It has become an almost daily occurrence.  He doesn't remember song lyrics, but he remembers the tunes of songs.  I, on the other hand, remember lyrics.  Not so much the tune, which is most likely why I don't sing, at least in public.  Well, only in the car, or around people who I know will love me anyway. . .

This morning, my husband came in to the bedroom, asking me what this song was that had come in to his head during his meditation.  He was humming a tune and trying to throw in a few words.  It's become a funny exercise in the morning, listening to him humming and trying to get the song.  We usually figure it out, and he is always delighted when I tell him the lyrics.  They always have some type of encouraging message for him.  He remembers them through the day, and has started recording them in his journal.

God communicates to us in many different ways.  Neale Walsh in Conversations with God has transcribed his own conversations with God on the subject of communication, and many other topics.  In the book, God says that he talks to everyone, all the time.  The question is not to whom he talks, but who listens.  This is great stuff!  He says that the most common form of communication is through feeling.  Feeling is the language of the soul.  I so much agree.  Through our feelings the body hears our spirit.

God also communicates through thought, often through images and pictures.  Experience is the next level of communication.  Finally, when feelings, thoughts and experience fail, God says in Walsh's book that he uses words.  Words are the least effective means of communication, because they are often misunderstood. They are noises that stand for feelings, thoughts and experience.

I have read Conversations With God more than once, and love the message.  Remembering that we can so easily hear God's voice is an immeasurably wonderful gift.

So how do we know if what we are feeling, thinking, experiencing or hearing is from God?  In the book, God makes the distinction clear:  "Mine is always your highest thought, your clearest word, your grandest feeling.  Anything less is from a different source.  The highest thought is always that thought which contains joy.  That clearest words are those words which contain truth.  The grandest feeling is that of love."

To remember this always: that in the midst of the worst life can dish out, I can trust my joyous thoughts; that is where the truth lies.  That I can always speak the truth as I know it, and it will serve the highest good.  And that I should always express my love openly, even when, especially when, it seems the most difficult to do.

To hear, we must first become silent.  We need to quiet, as best we can, our reactions, and wait for that which brings awareness of truth, joy and love.  Lately, as I ask a question of God, and I wait and listen, it feels almost as if I am listening to the air around me.  But I know it is much more than that.  I am listening for my answer in the quiet space that contains my immediate surroundings but also all that was ever created.  In the space between my thoughts, I listen for the voice of joy.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Forgetting and Remembering

I woke up this morning feeling out of sorts after a conversation I had with a loved one last night.  She has an ongoing situation within her family that she is having a very hard time navigating.  There is nothing I can do but listen, and it makes me sad to hear how negatively she is being affected by it. 

As I often do when I am having difficulty seeing my way out of troubled thinking, I decided to write a letter to God.  In that letter, I explained to God (as if she didn't already know!) that it is difficult for me to stay centered in my knowing that all is for good, especially when around me is so much fear.  I asked how I remember the truth in the face of job uncertainties in my own family, the pain and struggle that so many of my dear ones are experiencing, the loss of so many lives in natural disasters and other causes.  How do I remember, in the midst of it, that it all serves a divine purpose?

God responded simply and eloquently, and the words washed away my forgetting and brought me peace.  He reminded me that my path is to see the lie within the fear.  The situations in this life make up a glorious but very brief part of eternity, and there is a much bigger process unfolding in the issues that people are facing.  In the middle of immense suffering, they are safe.  I was reminded that when I can appreciate the confusion and pain and fear as a very necessary part of our path to the truth, that is seeing light in the darkness.  I need to be grateful for the challenges that my loves ones and all people experience; it is through our humanness that we get to chose, over and over again throughout eternity, how to express our inner light.

The act of turning my attention from my loud, fearful thoughts to the quieter voice of God reconnected me to my truth, and I was healed.  I was able to relax and breathe easier.  I am so grateful for that small but ever-present voice that is the light in the darkness. 

Humanity is going through a difficult but important time.  All of us are experiencing and watching others experience incredible trials.  The process of human evolution is accelerating, and that change by necessity creates new levels of chaos.  But in those challenges is our opportunity to choose, and choose again, the path that we know in our hearts is there, to the best and highest in all of us.  We are all longing to know ourselves, individually and collectively, in our true splendor.

We can't let temporary conditions convince us that it is too late; eternity is much larger than that.  We are part of the creative consciousness that imagined every good thing you have ever seen or heard of in this world.  The consciousness that created every life-saving medication, every language, every culture, the technology that connects us all, all acts of beauty and works of art, we are created from.  It lives in and expresses as each of us.  All we need do is remember, and choose that truth, for ourselves and our world.

This morning I stopped to listen to the gentle truth within me, and remembered, again.  I acknowledged in my loved one her perfection, and her power as part of divine creative consciousness, moving without error to the light.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

The Spiritual Law of Attraction

The spiritual law of attraction states that we attract into our lives that which we put our energy and attention on. I believe this is the most important of the explanations of how spirit creates through a physical body. Consider the ramifications of this! If we remembered this truth a little more often, how much more deliberate we would be in what we focus on. This law manifests minute-to-minute, in everything we do. It is in effect when we are being conscious about our thoughts, in prayer or meditation, or when we are sitting at a stoplight worrying, when our thoughts stream by without our even noticing them.

When "Monkey Mind" is active in our thoughts, we attract those thoughts. Monkey Mind is a term used for automatic, negative thinking, or the frequent amount of time we spend with our thoughts spinning off in some direction that may have no connection to our best or serve the highest good in that moment.

Monkey Mind often contains the messages we received as children, or lies that we have accepted as truth. It is the voice of fear. The voice of Monkey Mind is the perfect vehicle for our forgetting who we are, because the things we fear we usually find, and the lie is then reinforced until we can find a way to stop the cycle.

We quiet Monkey Mind through practice. Many people practice mindfulness and meditation techniques to help quiet the racing quality of the mind and cultivate more dominion over deciding which thoughts are worthy of our attention, and which we want to release. Simple deep breathing techniques also help with this. Many use affirmations to reprogram automatic negative thinking to more productive thoughts. What we hold in mind manifests in kind. The really magical part of all of this is, we can always change our mind!

Worry about not having enough money or resources is common, for example. The chatter would be "there is never enough money (or time, or love, or . . .) to meet my needs (or make me happy, or keep me safe)." When we catch ourselves creating this reality in our lives, we can affirm, in the present tense, "I have an abundant supply of all I need," or "God is my source." In doing this, especially over time, we reprogram the subconscious.

Many wonderful resources exist about learning to use the law of attraction more fully in our lives. There are entire websites dedicated to this idea. Life coaches teach it. One author whose books focus on the idea is Florence Scovel Shinn. I just purchased another copy of her book "The Game of Life and How to Play It" on amazon.com for $5.49.

The spiritual law of attraction is what makes the world our playground. It is what we use to design the masterpieces of our lives. In any moment we can choose to remember that there is no reality in lack of any kind. In all things, we can affirm that abundance is here and now manifesting.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Dignity

I have been thinking lately about dignity. There are so many things in this life that are antithetical to living in dignity; discrimination or abuse in our current situation, or limiting beliefs about ourselves that we've accepted from somewhere in the past. We can think of countless examples of circumstances that rob people of their self-respect. In some ways self-respect is very hard to maintain, especially when we are taught to hold ourselves up to so many different guideposts about what it means to be whole and healthy. Comparing ourselves to others, we can never be enough. But as with all things, divine purpose is providing us with the opportunity to remember who we really are.

As children of God, we can revel in the glory of our own existence. Being born to this earth is the only credential we need to be part of the kingdom. I notice that when I choose to express my dignity, when in my interactions I consciously come from a place of acknowledging first my own intrinsic worthiness, I cannot help but recognize in all other people that same measure of immense value. I did not always know that I needed to focus within first, but I am remembering. In owning the truth about myself, I see the truth in others.

When I am living in my own glory, the world feels like a very magical place. I am here, in the middle of limitless possibility, and all is for good. Everyone I meet is an angel, doing their own perfect dance.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

I See the Christ in You

Christ consciousness is the awareness of that most basic truth, one that Jesus lived and taught, that we are limitless creators, bringing into being all that we imagine. Christ consciousness, living in each of us, reminds us of our infinite power expressing through our finite human form.

Although we are limitless beings, we are on a path of remembering. In forgetting the truth, we are provided with the holy opportunity of remembering, and then owning our birthright as God in expression. We live in forgetfulness, remember, and then forget again.

Reverend Ken, our Unity minister, talks of something he does to help him in his dealings with people - that is to say, "I see the Christ in you." This doesn't need to be said out loud; other people do not even need to know you are acknowledging it about them. When someone you encounter is most stuck, when they act in a way much less than loving, saying to yourself that you see the Christ in them breaks the cycle of fear by affirming truth. They, and we, are free. The pull of fear and judgment is released as threads of truth are woven through our ongoing creation for all to experience.

We can choose to see the Christ in anyone at any time. It is a wonderful way to acknowledge the divine truth of all those we share this planet with, regardless of circumstances.

I sat on a warn Friday evening last summer in a park with hundreds of other people, listening to a concert. There were families picnicking and couples dancing. All different types of people were gathered together in a small grassy corner of the world. I chose in that moment to shift my awareness to acknowledge Christ consciousness within each of them, all at once. I was filled with awe and joy as I saw God's eternal spirit expressing in so many unique and perfect ways.

We lift up the vibration of all of humanity when we see the truth of each other, unlimited creators, all-together expressing the light of God.

May this tool be a blessing. . .