Letting the Best Happen

The world shows up to us in the way that we expect.  We have no idea of the extreme power that our expectation has in taking what we are given, and turning it into reality.  It's the difficult times that allow us to bring this power forward most dramatically, when we can turn a distressing circumstance into a miracle, all by what we choose to expect.

I've learned to be grateful, or at least be willing to try to be grateful, when a situation arises that makes me feel hopeless or out of control.  In these moments I am given the opportunity to own who I really am, a child of God able to spin the rough straw of an unpleasant situation into the bright, precious gold that is the truth I wish to create.

There is no painful reality that can persist when I hold it next to Divine Consciousness.  Sometimes I picture the problem out in front of me, looking very dark and sharp-edged, and then watch as Divine Consciousness surrounds it in a gold light that opens and softens, and all good things are again possible.  For me this is an example of heaven on Earth, our ability to create as God in human form.

In those moments when we are most challenged, all we need do is offer the prayer to "Let the very best happen," and it is done.  In this way we are like alchemists, using the laboratory of our human experience to transmute what is the most base in us to our highest, most noble expression.  We can repeat this prayer as often as needed, expecting that it will happen, and then stand back and watch as our unlimited power manifests and we express ourselves as God.

When we are confused or angry or scared, turning it over to Divine Consciousness to simply let the best happen relieves us of the burden of staying that way, and of needing to have solutions when we're feeling the most stuck.  It creates space for the vast creative power that lives within us and in all things to work its magic.  As we expect the best and highest outcome, it is done unto us.

May you invoke many miracles by letting the best happen, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Standing in Grace and Gratitude

I heard a song at Unity last weekend, and woke up with it in my head this morning.  It happens fairly often, and I always appreciate the voice of God, speaking to me as I dream, helping me remember.
The song is "Grace And Gratitude" by Olivia Newton-John.

All I have and all I feel
Is all because of you
All I reap is all I sow
And love is our living proof

Thank you for life
Thank you for everything
I stand here in Grace and Gratitude
And I thank you

Seasons come and seasons go
No matter what we choose
A thousand names
A thousand roads
All lead to one simple truth

Thank you for life
Thank you for everything
I stand here in grace and gratitude
And I thank you

Being God, in the Middle of an Otherwise Ordinary Life

Another door has opened on my personal spiritual path, and so the direction of this blog is getting ready to take an exciting new turn.

Daily Spiritual Tools has always been about remembering the deep, abiding truth within us that we are God. I've delighted in sharing many of the tools I've learned and used, and in celebrating the spiritual teachers who have affected me so profoundly, both in person and through the books they've written.

The spiritual tools in this blog have literally saved my life, as they have helped me remember that I am its sole creator. Knowing that with ever-growing certainty has taken me from seeming hopelessness to truth, and has been a deep joy.

My heart is urging me now to put more "feet" to the truth that the tools so consistently help me remember. And so I move into a new phase of turning my remembering truth into practicing it much more consciously. Jesus said, "Ye are Gods," and I believe that to be true. As God, I'm ready to try my hand at creating some miracles!

I've been aware of creating miracles before, at least I thought they were miracles, except when my head was telling me they were coincidences. Creating the job I now have was the most conscious act of creating the seeming impossible that I'd ever done, and it's still hard to own it as the miracle that it was 13 years later. One thing's for sure, if I'm God, then I want to take all I've been given and run with it!!

Right now, thinking about it, there are quite a few miracles in the hopper. As God, I can heal my back of the herniated disc that's been keeping me in pain at night and thinking of the troubling stories I've heard from others with progressing back troubles. Mostly I forget that I can create this miracle and so I worry instead.

In the middle of having a son in college, an aging mom who needs financial help, investments that sunk, housing values that went in the wrong direction, and approaching retirement, I forget, too, all the time that I can create the miracle of abundant money. This is just the beginning of the many small and large miracles I want to create!

I plan to focus on creating the miracles that are important to me, especially the ones that seem unattainable. If all goes well, I'll move on to even bigger ones as this becomes clearer to me. The highest and best part of me knows that I can create any and all miracles that I choose, but that part is also very quiet, getting lost in the noise of why I can't. 

I was was going to say wish me luck, but God doesn't need luck, right? I have a feeling I'm about to find out. . .

Living in Prosperity

Sometimes when I need inspiration I open one of my favorite books and let a chapter speak to me, knowing that the right words will appear. Recently I opened Florence Scovel Shinn’s The Game of Life and How to Play It, and was again awed by her vast understanding of the unbounded creative power that we all have. What an amazing teacher she was!

My husband and I have had more than the usual amount of money going out lately, and I’ve been feeling limited in our finances, so I wasn’t surprised when the chapter on The Law of Prosperity caught my eye. I appreciate Shinn’s perspective on creating abundance in finances, and in all things.

Reading that short chapter reminded me that I choose what truth I will serve. Holding on to worry about the possibility of not having enough money for everything we want to do is not me expressing the highest I’m capable of. I know this (on some days, at least!), but thank Goodness that life provides me with as many opportunities as I need to keep remembering the truth.

Shinn puts it well when she says that, “getting into the spiritual swing of things is no easy matter for the average person. The adverse thoughts of doubt and fear surge from the subconscious. They are the ‘army of aliens’ that must be put to flight. This explains why it is so often ‘darkest before the dawn.’

A big demonstration is usually preceded by tormenting thoughts.

Having made a statement of high spiritual truth one challenges the old beliefs of the subconscious, and the error is exposed to be put out.

This is the time when one must make his affirmations of truth repeatedly, and rejoice and give thanks that he has already received. ‘Before ye call I shall answer.’ This means that every good and perfect gift is already man’s, awaiting his recognition.”

The simple truth is that God is my supply, and there is a supply for every demand.

Financial prosperity is a vibration, a reality that I consciously choose to call to myself. What is mine to do is acknowledge what I need, and then give thanks for it, knowing that it is mine and will come to me at the perfect time, and in the perfect way.

I can do that! Thank you, Florence Scovel Shinn!

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Allowing the Noise

A friend of mine from Unity told me recently that he is never able to quiet his mind. One of the problems that this is creating for him is that he feels completely unable to meditate.  I felt a lot of empathy for him because it seemed that he felt like he should be able to quiet his mind, and wanted to, but for reasons unknown to him just didn’t have the ability to.

His feeling that he lacks something that is intrinsic to all of us as part of our spiritual nature moved me to jump in and suggest another possibility.  And his comments prompted me to think more about the idea of the importance of quieting the mind.

I agree that it can be difficult to hear the quiet voice of spirit within when our minds are busy with life’s many details.  And I do believe that we are better able to live from our highest and most conscious intentions when we take the time to slow down and detach from the world on a regular basis so that we can access our own deep truth.

But the reality is that minds like to be busy.  Our busy minds are the things that create our individual experience and expression, and that provide our humanness.  And through our humanness we uniquely express God within.  Our minds are a powerful and sacred tool in God’s expression.

I know there are those very special people who have practiced long enough that they can spend long amounts of time with a completely empty mind.  But what about the rest of us seekers who are doing our best to find the divinity in all of our experience, including the noisy mind that defies taming?

I have found in my own meditation practice that it’s not the level of emptiness of mind that matters but just that I’m paying attention to what’s moving through.  At times my mind has been so busy that successful meditation was setting a timer so that I could make myself just sit quietly for a prescribed amount of time.  That doesn’t happen much anymore, though, because I’ve learned a little better to not fight what’s happening when I meditate.

Just stopping to notice the mind’s activity is a meditation.  When we can notice and acknowledge a thought it loses its hold and we can let it go.  In unconsciousness our thoughts spin unchecked and we feel unable to quiet the mind’s din.  And what we resist we give energy to, so fighting the mind’s noise just makes it noisier. 

But when we allow our meditation to be an opportunity to just sit with ourselves and be with ourselves, in awareness of what is real for us in that moment, the mind will often quiet on its own, without any effort needed.  (Or not, depending on the day, but even that is a meditation as we learn to watch the noise and see it for what it is, thoughts passing by that we can choose to attend to or not.)  We gain mastery by watching the mind’s pandemonium, and seeing our thoughts for the fleeting things that they are.

So take regular time to be the watcher of your own divine mind, and honor its role in helping you define what you will hold as true, and what you will allow to move past you.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

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!

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. . .