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. . .

Seeing Light in the Darkness

I can't remember where I read about the idea of seeing light in the darkness. It's been many years ago, and I've remembered it often. It is that choice we can make in the midst of any difficulty to change our minds, and see that point of light that reminds us that all is well. When we can see light in the middle of darkness, we are talking directly with God.

Sometimes just entertaining the possibility that all is well is an act of faith. We may have just a hint of willingness to consider that our perception is limited in the moment, and that the voices of fear and lack will quiet if we stop fighting them. Just being willing to consider that the fear is not as big as it seems opens our awareness to all kinds of new possibilities.

When those times in life happen that we feel most lost and confused, when we're doubting our path or our safety or our worthiness, we don't have to be anything other than where we are. We don't have to be standing tall or absolutely certain about anything. During those times, we can just be willing to consider that there is good at work, even if we can't yet see how. There's a tremendous amount of grace that comes from not fussing and fighting when we find ourselves again in the darkness. It is a clamorous but temporary state of affairs, and we can allow it to run its course.

My dear brother reminded me of seeing light in the darkness yesterday, when I asked him how he was. He told me about some big challenges he's facing, and then said, in effect, "but God has me, and it's all going to be fine." What I heard his spirit saying was "Bring it on; I and the God within me can handle way more than this!" It warmed my heart to hear the boasting between the lines. I could sense his pride. Challenges are opportunities we create for ourselves to rise above our limited ideas of what we can do, be and have. They are steps in knowing the truth, and serve a mighty purpose.

Light in the middle of darkness is that space wherein we step aside from pain or confusion just enough to view it from outside of ourselves. In that space, we are the observer, observing ourselves. We are spirit, watching how we're affected but knowing that there's a much greater dynamic at work. That light we see is the God within, shining in the midst of it all.

May you see light in the darkness, and may this tool be a blessing!

The paradox of proof and faith

As I sat listening to God in my meditation this morning, I was aware of my very solid faith in God consciousness, and realized that my faith is the result of many years of proof. I know that is a bit of a contradiction. I didn't start out with alot of faith. I wasn't born into a spiritually-oriented family; mine really had no spiritual perspective at all. I didn't even consciously choose to develop faith, but it happened, nonetheless.

My faith is born of trusting, in increasing measure, my own perception, seeing proof over many years that spirit exists. The proof I've found has been very gentle; if I hadn't been actively seeking truth, it would have slipped by unnoticed. Over the years I have turned so many problems over to God, and have been filled with wonder by the results. I have set an intention about creating something, often using one of the tools discussed in this blog, and watched it come into being, with amazing accuracy. When I've asked, I've been answered. My knocks were so very quiet, in the beginning, but heard.

I realized this morning that my confidence in spiritual truth developed without my even really noticing the scope of it, as I was raising my kids, living my life, doing all of the things we do. My trust grew slowly through seeking and finding so many small answers, living a very ordinary life. I know spirit as the eternal creator within each of us, and I trust that part of us just as if I could reach out and feel the physical density of it. I've needed proof, sought it, and found it.

When I look at spiritual energy clairvoyantly, as color, there is density to it; there is hue and pattern. It looks physical. When I reach my hands out to feel the spiritual energy around a person, the aura, it has density, firm and steadfast in places or light and barely there. But it is there.

I love that place in my awareness where spirit is made real in the physical world by my senses. I guess it's the part of me that keeps wanting proof. Or maybe it's not so much that I keep needing proof, myself, but that I'd like for others to have it. I'd love for all of humanity to know themselves, and each other, as Gods.

I remember years ago attending a class at the Berkeley Psychic Institute on telekinesis, a very little-used spiritual ability. There were about 300 people in a big lecture hall. The instructors had bags full of spoons and forks, which they passed out. After some discussion, we all set about trying to bend them, using our telekinetic ability. I spent some time intent on bending my spoon, with no luck. When I looked up, I saw people around me twisting the tines of their forks like they were playdough. It was one of those moments when the paradigm shifts and nothing is ever the same again.

Class ended and I was walking down a street in Berkeley, spoon unchanged, returning to the car with the people I'd ridden with. I was talking with one of them; he had been able to bend his spoon. I was holding my spoon, looking at it, listening to him explain about releasing effort from my 3rd chakra, when my spoon bent over in half, like butter, then stopped, solid again. It happened in about half a second. I stood on that street corner in Berkeley shrieking, happy to have witnessed that, but also happy to have been able to do it!

That is a pretty dramatic instance of proof, and it makes a good story. But it isn't the most compelling bit of proof I've encountered that we are God expressing in human form. Those have come from countless small moments of hoping, with just the tiniest amount of faith in the possibility that I can create the outcome, and having it be so.

May your knocks be heard!

Getting out of resistance

Resistance is an interesting teacher. The buddhists believe that resisting what is creates much suffering. I believe this to be true. There is, however, an awful lot to resist, at least for me. It would be great if I responded to everything that came my way with equanimity, unmovable in my internal balance. Maybe in some lifetime!

Today, I'm resisting changes in my job. I like my job the way it is. I've been there a long time; I'm happy there, and I don't want it to change. The thing is, whether I want it to or not, it is changing. Driving home tonight, there were many things I could have had my attention on. The weather is spring-like and warm, and beautiful. I could have been grateful for countless things. But I felt that closed down feeling in my chest that accompanies my thoughts of I don't want this.

I can label a situation in any way I choose, and create an outcome of my own making. First, though, I need to accept where I am with it. I need to feel my feelings, and be clear about what action, if any, is needed on my part. It's easy to mistake acceptance with burying our feelings and moving on, trying to be positive. But we can't accept that which we haven't yet acknowledged. I needed to be honest with myself, first, in how I am being affected.

There is a saying that the only constant is change. I teach in my stress management class that stress is caused by demands on us to change. How we handle those demands for change can make the difference between resistance and discomfort, or enthusiasm and growth. The choice really is ours.

From the perspective of spirit, all is well. A year from now, I will have moved beyond my resistance to change, adapted and created a way to experience more of the truth of who I am and what I can do.

So for today, I will acknowledge my resistance and move on. And I will remember one of my favorite Unity prayers: "The light of God surrounds us; the love of God enfolds us; the power of God protects us; and the presence of God watches over us. Wherever we are, God is, and all is well!"

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Spiritual Hands-on Healing

I spent five years studying at an exceptional place called the Aesclepion Healing Institute, where I learned spiritual hands-on healing. At Aesclepion, we spent many hours practicing on others. I've found that hands-on healing is also a wonderful way to heal myself.

There are many different methods for doing hands-on energy healing. They are all intended to heal the spirit in the body, with the idea that physical or emotional dis-ease begins on a spiritual level. When we are holding on to something that is not our truth, it can be seen as color, and directed to release. At Aescleption, we moved our hands over a person's body, and sometimes directly onto a portion of the body, in order to help that release to occur, and to help the person get their own healthy, vibrant spiritual energy flowing through their body.

An important part of Aesclepion's teaching is that we do not use our own energy to heal others. We don't need to do this, and it actually gets in the way of another's healing. They, and the God within them, know the best course for healing. We do not need for our intention to get in the way of it. Instead I let go and allow the healing energy to come through my hands. Most of us have had the experience of giving too much of our own life force energy away to someone else in an effort to help them, and being depleted by it. This is not helpful or necessary.

When I have a knowing about where energy is being held that needs to be released, and I place my hands just above that area of the body, the light of God is brought to that part of the body. A place that had been out of awareness is brought into light. That is how we heal.

When I was in my early 20s, I had abdominal surgery, and spent a few weeks recovering. I remember spending alot of time with my hands on my belly, directing healing energy to the area. At the time I hadn't yet studied hand-on healing, so it was more instinctive. Even so, it worked beautifully! I helped me trust my body and get out of worry, and I was healed and back to my daily activities much more quickly than would have been expected. Intention is infinitely powerful!

I don't have the opportunity to do as much hands-on healing work as I did before, and I miss it. It is one of the most gratifying things I've ever done, and I look forward to doing more in the future.

Recently I decided to give myself another hands-on healing. I placed my hands over the area of the body to be healed, took some deep breaths and quieted my mind, and allowed God consciousness to come through my hands. When my mind wandered, I gently brought it back to what was happening. Intention is the important part of this process. When my mind wanders, healing is still happening. As I intend for divine consciousness to heal me, it is done, with more perfection than my ego or will could create. At any point in time there is perfect healing on a spirit's path, and God consciousness will manifest it. As I had my attention on the process, I noticed slight resistance at times, places where the healing energy had to remain a bit longer, then an awareness of lightness, and release. All we need to do is allow it to happen.

I believe we are meant to glorify our existence in joy, abundant health, and prosperity in any way that has meaning for us. Thank you, God, for my healthy body, through which I experience all gifts, large and small!

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Compassion

Compassion is an immensely powerful spiritual tool. I believe we could change the world with more attention on choosing compassion. Developing an understanding of what compassion really means has been a very personal journey for me. I remember a teacher at the Aesclepion Healing Institute telling me that I have more than my share of compassion. It's been one of my life's most valuable learning experiences, because in the family I grew up in, being sensitive and compassionate was seen as weakness, and was not validated. I always felt very wrong and out of place. It provided me with a very challenging but ultimately perfect opportunity to look deep within myself and choose exactly who I want to be.

As the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hahn, wrote: "If you think that compassion is passive, weak, or cowardly, then you don't know what real compassion or understanding is. If you think that compassionate people do not resist and challenge injustice, you are wrong. They are warriors, heroes, and heroines who have gained many victories. When you act with compassion, with nonviolence. . . you have to be very strong. You no longer act out of anger, you do not punish or blame. Compassion grows constantly inside of you, and you can succeed in your fight against injustice. Mahatma Gandhi was just one person. He did not have any bombs, any guns, or any political party. He acted simply on the. . . strength of compassion. . ."

Deciding on compassion toward another allows healing to happen. It allows ruffled feathers to settle, stirred-up emotions to quiet, and understanding and communication to begin. Compassion can right many wrongs. Certainly things happen in life that we are justified in feeling anger or resentment about, and we need to feel those things. We need to look closely at those situations in order to learn and grow. At some point, though, we need to get to that place that acknowledges God expressing as each of us. We are all on a path of remembering. We all have bad days, and we all wear blinders around certain situations. The truth is, everyone is doing the best they can with what they have in any given moment. It does no good for us personally or for our human evolution to hold on to judgement.

I learned awhile back that the thing I dislike most in someone else is the thing I most resist acknowledging in myself; a bitter pill to swallow, indeed. That other person is a perfect book to read, to learn about myself, if I choose to put that energy of judgement to its best use. I think it's well said in John 8:7, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone."

When I am in judgment of others, and I hold on instead of feeling it and then letting it go, I open the door for that energy to grow in my life. Peace and balance become elusive, as I find more to judge in myself as well as in others. Like forgiveness, compassion is not something we do only for the other person, but very much for ourselves as well.

We cannot solve a problem by being in the same energy that created the problem. We have to take a step up. Raising our vibration to one of compassion in a situation allows divine order to design a perfect resolution benefitting everyone.

A friend this morning told me about a quote that she uses from her 12-step program, which I plan to use often. It's simple, and a great way to remember the power of compassion: "Bless them, change me."

May this tool be a blessing. . .

More Gratitude!

My mom asked me to write more on the topic of gratitude, and I am happy to do that, because it is my favorite practice. She specifically mentioned something that I have taped on my refrigerator, which some of you may have seen. I'm not looking at it right now, so I'll have to paraphrase: "I am grateful for the chores that need doing; it means that I have a home. I am grateful for the piles of laundry that I never seem to finish; it means that my loved ones are close by. I am grateful for the big heating bills; it means that I get to be warm. I am grateful for the parking spot that I find at the far end of the lot; it means that I am healthy enough to walk." There are quite a few more.

I love this! Mom must have, too, because she remembered it from the last time she visited. So much of the reality that we experience is dictated by the way we choose to think about what is happening to us. I would even go further to say that it's not the situation, but how we label the situation, that gives rise to how we feel, how we react, and how we ultimately perceive our experience. It's not so much about noticing and being grateful for the big, in-your-face things that happen, although that's important, too. It's more about recognizing the small things that grace us quietly and often go unnoticed.

We manifest in our lives that which we put the most attention on. Beginning to become more aware of how we label situations gives us many opportunities to choose to focus on the good. As human beings, we tend to find what we're looking for. We get what we expect. If my big heating bill causes me to lament over greedy utility companies and dishonest political practices, I validate greed and dishonesty. The more I validate them, the more I will find. I'm not saying that these things don't exist in our world, but it doesn't really help to dwell on them. If there is something that needs changing in our world and we feel compelled to act toward that change, we are proactively working for good. If we do not feel compelled to act, we can let it go and focus our attention on some other good.

I always thought it would be a wonderful idea to create a news network, maybe just starting locally, that reported only positive news, acts of kindness, milestones, all of the phenomenal things that people do every day that usually go unnoticed. What if we validated these things? This probably sounds very pollyanna-ish to some, but what might happen if there was a channel we could tune in to that acknowledged all of the good that happens in the world? It might help move our collective reality from one of fear to one of trust, and love. It's all in what we choose to focus on. I think this is a great idea, and if someone wants to take it and run with it, I would be grateful! If it's already happening somewhere, please let me know because I want to support it.

How miraculous, this game of life! I am struck sometimes by the unspeakable beauty and perfection of it. If we remembered always that each thought, each word is designing our future, individually and collectively, we would be so much more mindful of what we are choosing to express. We would be so much more deliberate about what we hold true in any given moment.

Like happiness, we can cultivate gratitude. We can choose to have eyes that seek the good in things big and small. Choosing to live in gratitude is how we create heaven on earth.

May this tool be a blessing. . .