Attitude and Longitude

Conditions of Love

In human relationships, we all have conditions that we place on the relationships we have with others. By this, I mean that we all have a way in which we measure the love being shown to us by another.  The measurement we use tells us whether we feel it’s genuine and if it’s enough. 

For example, I realize that a condition I use to measure whether I’m being loved is the answer to the question, “Do I feel like my vision plan is being honored and respected?”  

It is fair to expect something in return for what you give because relationships are not meant be lopsided.  No one side of the relationship is more deserving than the other.   

The plane that we live in is a dynamic place of complimentary opposites – positive/negative, male/female, light/dark – and does not allow complete and total unconditional love.  

When we are born into this plane of complimentary opposites, the unconditional becomes conditional.  We are able to grasp being unconditional even as we are being conditional about love.  Just as we are able to grasp the concept of being one, while we are being more than one.  

It’s like light, which is known to quantum physicists as particles and yet also as waves.  

Until we leave this plane, we love conditionally... And yet, we can certainly lessen the hold that our conditions have on us as we become more aware of unconditionality.

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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The Starting Place For Remembering Your Purpose In Life

Feeling a bit lost about what to do with your life?

Maybe you’re compelled to find out, but you’re not exactly sure about where to start.

I’ll tell you where to start… remember what your unique gifts are. Because the unique gifts you possess are the tools you took with you into this life when you were born in order to carry out your mission. Look at what your gifts are, and you’ll have a clue as to what do to with your life.

Imagine waking up one morning with amnesia – you have forgotten what you do and who you are. You walk out to your driveway, and there’s a commercial-looking truck parked there. In the back of the truck are professional-grade tools that are obviously used for plumbing work. “Oh,” you think, “I must be a plumber.”

It really can be that simple. You possess certain unique gifts needed to carry out your purpose in life. When you look at what your gifts are, you will see what your purpose is. But here's the kicker. Even though at some level you have always known what your gifts are and what you are here to do, sometimes it's hard to see this in the midst of a busy life. Sometimes it's hard to see yourself objectively enough to understand what you really offer the world.

In Richard Bach’s bestselling novel Illusions, the main character learns that "You are never given a wish without being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however." In the same vein, you are never given a gift without a reason to use it. You may have to work to remember it, however. Especially if the voice of your inner knowing gets drowned out by powerful forces like the basic instinct for survival, sensory distractions and the projected fears from your well-meaning tribe.

exerpt from Your Personal Polaris: A Guide to Help You
Bring Who You Are to What You Do

It doesn’t matter if your parents’ or some other ancestors’ DNA had something to do with the gifts you have. It doesn’t matter if you believe a higher power gave them to you. The bottom line is that you have what you need to get done what you’re here to do.

Want to know what to do with your life? Then start by remembering what your unique gifts are.

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they can bring who they are to what they do. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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Meditation Changed My Numbers

Before I even had my coffee on Sunday, I decided to sit quietly and mediate for a few minutes.  But, first I took a reading of my blood pressure.  I wanted a baseline so I could see if I could affect it.  Then I used a method to relax myself called visualization or guided imagery.  For me, a nature scene with a body of water always works well.  This time, I used an image of being in a friend’s swimming pool.  Of course, this isn’t just any old backyard swimming pool.  The view is beautiful.  High on a hill, it has two levels and overlooks the surrounding hill country of west Austin. 

So, in my visualization, the sun is still shining but getting lower as it approaches early evening.  The sky is blue and scattered with fluffy clouds.  I’m partially emerged in the top level of the terraced pool, resting my arms and leaning on the edge that allows the water to spill over like a gentle waterfall to the lap pool below.  I hear the constant splashing of the water over the edge, and I hear birds chirping as they flit around in the trees that surround the pool area.  Inhale – I notice my breathing.  The air is dry and warm.  I notice that I’m smiling.  I notice that the water cools me as the sun bathes my face.  A light breeze moves my hair slightly.  I stay there in that imaginary moment suspended in joy, breathing in and smiling.  I am not thinking of anything except the elements of sunshine, water, breeze, birds and my breathing.  This is what carefree means, and I’ve attained the state of “carefree” in my mind’s eye as I sit on my living room floor.

Then, at some point soon, who knows how much time has passed… 10 minutes maybe?...  I open my eyes.  A final, strong exhale. 

Taking my blood pressure reading again, I noticed that the top and bottom numbers have each dropped by 5 and 7 points respectively.  Fascinating!  It looks like meditation actually works.  I’m looking forward to giving my doctor a good report, so I’ll keep doing this meditation practice daily.  And I also love that it’s cheap, easy, efficient, and (best of all) a joyful experience.  

Did you know that studies have specifically proven the positive effects of meditation on stress (and hypertension)?  The studies that I read about tend to focus on the mantra meditation technique called “transcendental” meditation.  According to Wikipedia, this form of meditation uses sound as "a thought in the meditation process, and as a vehicle that allows the individual's attention to travel naturally to a less active, quieter style of mental functioning."

WebMD's article, "Treating Hypertension 'Naturally'," cites Robert Schneider, MD, who is the dean of the College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, and director of the university's government-sponsored Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention, one of 16 such centers in the country.  "Schneider has been researching the positive effects of the ancient medical science of maharishi vedic medicine -- of which transcendental meditation (TM) is key --for the past 15 years."  The article also says, "In the past 30 years, says Schneider, approximately 600 studies have been conducted worldwide on the effects of transcendental meditation on blood pressure."

Of course, there are so many types of meditation.  Going back to Wikipedia: "Meditation refers to any of a family of practices in which the practitioner trains his or her mind or self-induces a mode of consciousness in order to realize some benefit." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation)

In addition to transcendental and guided imagery, there's walking meditation and mindfulness meditation.  There's meditation which requires you to focus on your breath and another kind which requires you to empty your mind. 

For some people, meditation can be deeply spiritual, incorporating specific prayerful intention and, perhaps, with use of prayer beads such as a Rosary, Misbaha or Japa Mala.  For others, it is a ritual of centering the heart and mind before doing something significant, such as preparing to give a speech in front of an audience or visualizing a sporting event's outcome.  Or maybe it’s a ritual to start or end each day.

 

It appears that meditation is becoming increasingly popular.  A 2007 study done by the U.S. Government found that nearly 9.4% of U.S. adults (over 20 million) had practiced meditation within the past 12 months. That’s a definite upsurge in numbers because a similar study in 2002 reported that 7.6% or over 15 million people were meditating.

There are some other interesting statistics out there showing that the benefits of meditation go beyond stress reduction.  According to an article on project-meditation.org, “Business owners have reported that among employees, who meditate, absenteeism is lower, production is higher, and the quality of their work is better thus proving the statistics on people who meditate are right.”  The article goes on to give the following statistics:

A Detroit based chemical plant posted the following results three years after implementing meditation:

• Absenteeism fell by 85%
• Productivity rose 120%
• Injuries dropped 70%
• Profits increased 520%

Of course, it could be that simply having less stress can make you more motivated to show up to work, be more productive and become more alert. 

Hey, I bet that company’s employees had better blood pressure numbers too!

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they can bring who they are to what they do. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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On the subject of abundance…

I recently found some old notes from an ezine by James Ray’s dated 2/14/08:

 “Your desire is your higher self speaking to you, awaiting manifestation.” 

He goes on to say:  “I remember years ago hearing one of my mentors say, ‘Decide to be a millionaire… not for the green slips of paper, but for who you will have to BECOME to get there.’”

Wow!  What an interesting concept.  Not for the money itself and what it brings you, but for who you will have to become…

“… you see, your current results are a direct reflection of the person you have become up to this point.  Why is it that those who win the lottery – almost without exception – are flat broke and miserable within 2 years?  It is because they have not yet BECOME the type of person necessary to live at that level.  It takes a bigger person to make $100,000 per year than $10,000.  It takes a bigger person to become a millionaire than to retire on social security.”

When I re-read that, I swayed a bit on the “bigger person” thing.  What does he mean by “bigger person”?  After all, Mother Teresa was a bigger person than I, and she had given up her claim to any earthly riches in order to do her work in the streets of Calcutta.

But he goes on to qualify what he means…

“Understand, I did not say a better person… there is not one of us that is better than anyone else.  We have all been given the same potential from our Creator.  But it does take a bigger person.  It takes a person who is willing to stretch, to take risks, massive action and have tremendous faith.”

Yes, that makes sense… a bigger person is one who thinks bigger and one who reaches bigger.  This means that if I am to align to the abundance that is meant for me, I must stretch, take risks, take massive action and have tremendous faith.

Guess, I’m finally ready to be a bigger person.  And, man, my higher self must be infinitely patient with me, too…  because there have been some specific abundance desires hanging around with me for some time!  And to think that I first read this ezine from James Ray in 2008.  I bet if I listen hard enough I’d hear something from my higher self like, “It’s about dang time – now get on with it!” 

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they can bring who they are to what they do. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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"Our Deepest Fear" by Marianne Williamson

Marianne Williamson narrates the famous passage, "Our Deepest Fear," from her book Return to Love in this video (4:41 minutes).

ahhhh, beautiful!

 

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they can bring who they are to what they do. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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In Your Head And Out Loud, The Words That Shape Your Destiny

Words.  They say that words are the point at which the act of creation begins.  However, they say that it is actually the words first formed in your thoughts that get the creative juices going – that it's not necessarily the words you speak aloud which starts the creative process.  “As a man thinketh...”  

And apparently, it doesn't take all that long to create from thought words before they'll travel to lips, tongue and breath to make their audible debut.  It’s supposed to be pretty instantaneous, this creating process.  Even though you might not see the fruits of your thoughts right away, you most assuredly have set something into motion.  My acquaintance, Tom Cassidy, is a scientist, and he likes to use the analogy of the sausage machine to logically explain the effects of thoughts influencing reality.  You put beef into one end of the sausage machine, and you’ll get beef sausage out of the other end.

In the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible, we are told that when creating the world and its inhabitants, God said let there be this and let there be that.  God spoke, and so it was.

And so it is with your use of words.  The words you use lead to how your life will take a certain shape.  In his book, Release Your Brilliance, Simon T. Bailey describes it this way, "Your life right now is the sum total of every word you've ever spoken – in your head and out loud."

How are you using words?  What are you uttering when you refer to your circumstances?  Positive words or negative words?  Pay attention.  What you say aloud is your barometer to measure what's going on internally. 

I come across this all the time.  Recently, after giving a presentation to a group of job seekers, a woman who'd been in the audience approached me to ask a question.  She began with, "My problem is that I..."  After I answered her question, I pointed out to her that she'd used the words "my problem" when talking about her situation.  I suggested she rephrase it to say something more positive like, "My challenge is that I..."  Her eyes opened wide as she told me that she didn't even realize that she had said "my problem."  She agreed with my point… Say you have a problem, and, sure enough, you have one.  Say you have a challenge, and it's more like a puzzle to be solved.  Just a small shift in thinking and projection, but it's one that could make a huge difference... like a ripple effect.

You know you do it.  We all do it.  Use words unconsciously, that is.  However, once you pay attention to your language and then make the conscious choice to change it, watch what happens.  And I mean internally AND externally. 

I believe it was Gandhi who said, "Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny."

So, have I got you wondering now?  How are your words – in your head and out loud – shaping your destiny?

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they can bring who they are to what they do. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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Embracing the Energy of 2012

 

A good friend emailed some thoughts to me this morning about how she is embracing the energy of 2012... they're lovely thoughts worth paying forward, so I'm sharing them with you.  You'll see that she starts with a bold, affirmative statement and then makes a very wise observation.  I love how there is an absence of fear here.  May we all be so fearless!

What’s been resonating with me is:

I embrace 2012 coming because the energy I feel coming is going to be spectacular……………………at least for those paying attention.  For those that aren’t, they’ll miss it and claim “see nothing happened and it’s just another ordinary day” but for those that believe, lives are going to be transformed into an awakening that will be magnificent and it will be right here in front of us to accept and embrace or discount and doubt.

 

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they can bring who they are to what they do. To learn more, please visit: www.insyncresources.com
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You are a beautiful, luminous being here to be who you already are...

The SPIRITUAL SELF is the pure non-programmed, non-mediated aspect of self that is positive, pure, open presence, yearning to embody our larger, true nature in this world. Our SPIRITUAL SELF is resonating in harmony with the Universe. 
– Bob Hoffman

When I work with people, and even when I'm just having a casual conversation with a friend, wisdom comes through that I don't even know I possess.  I'm not the only one who does this.  I know many other people who say that they experience this same thing often when they are talking, counseling or teaching others. 

Perhaps, like Bob Hoffman points out in his statement above, it's my spiritual self resonating in harmony with the Universe.  Maybe this wisdom isn't coming directly from me.  Maybe it's coming through me from some other greater, wiser source.  Either way, I'm humbly grateful for when such wisdom comes forth. 

Wisdom came pouring out the other day when I was emailing a friend who was struggling with some internal issues of direction and major choices.  At the time, I was actually surprised by what I wrote.  At the time I thought it was kind of radical, but as I reflect on it today, I see the attitude of personal empowerment reflected in the words... and that is really, truly my message and what I'm trying to live myself.

In case this resonates with you too, I thought I'd share.  Namaste Y

• You are a beautiful, luminous being here to be who you already are. All answers to questions about how you "should" be who you are in the world are found inside, not outside, of you.
• The teachers in your life might be able to help you to quiet your fears through their prescribed techniques so that your own soul can speak to you, but your teachers are not your saviors – you are. They can bring forth tools for you to use or show you how to open to yourself. But don’t look to them to provide the answers for they tell you only what they know that their soul speaks to them about... not what your soul speaks to you about.
• No one can predict your path or your future but you. This is because, as a self-sovereign being, you are endowed with free will and can choose another outcome in a heartbeat if you so desire... and in doing so, your future will change too.

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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they can bring who they are to what they do.  To learn more, please visit her website: www.insyncresources.com.
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Blown by the eight winds

Recently found a book on my shelf that I’d purchased years ago and had never got around to reading:  Soul Stories by Gary Zukav.

It's a pleasant book.  Easy to read and full of self-reflective stories, as well as vignettes that the author uses to explain various spiritual or personal growth concepts.

Here's a great soul story - I loved and think you will too.  Enjoy!

The Buddhists say there are eight winds. They are gain and loss, praise and ridicule, credit and blame, and suffering and joy.  If you aren’t aware of them, they will blow you away like dry leaves in an autumn breeze.  For example when someone praises you, and that tastes sweet, like candy in your mouth, you are being blown away by the wind of praise.

One day in ancient China a young man thought he had become enlightened.  He wrote a poem to his master about how he was not blown by the eight winds.  Then he sent it to his master who lived three hundred miles up the Yangtze River.

When his master read the poem, he wrote “Fart, Fart” on the bottom and sent it back.

The more the young man read those words, the more upset he got.  At last he decided to visit his master.  In those days, a three-hundred mile trip up the Yangtze River was a very difficult journey.

As soon as he arrived, he went straight to his master’s temple.  “Why did you write this?” he asked, bowing.  “Doesn’t his poem show that I am no longer blown about by the eight winds?”

“You say that you are no longer blown by the eight winds,” replied the master, “but two little farts blew you all the way up here.”

What I do when "so much to do" becomes "too much to do"

I awoke this morning feeling overwhelmed.  So much to do!  I realize that most days I'm more of a human doing than a human being.  That's not a bad thing though.  Doing is fun.  But this morning the fun was tinged with a sense of imbalance.  So much to do was feeling like too much to do.

My antidote:

Step One - Take a few moments to practice the attitude of gratitude.
What is all this doing for anyway?  Well, it's because I'm living my life on purpose, and it is, indeed, a full life with purpose.  I remember this and am grateful for all that I have and get to do.

Step Two - Be still and honor where I am in the present moment. 
Worrying about what needs to get done projects me into a future which hasn't even happened yet, so, therefore, is not even real.  By default, this means I'm worrying for nothing.  I am here now.  Remember?  Yes.  Exhale.  

Practice Gratitude and Honor the Present Moment
This literally take a few minutes.  Balance is restored even though nothing has physically changed.  I'm still committed to those things to do.  What has changed is my perception.

May your joys be as deep as the oceans,
your troubles as light as its foam.
And may you find sweet peace of mind,
wherever you may roam.
-Irish Blessing

A money affirmation for the holiday season (and beyond)

Obviously, spending money can be a good thing since it stimulates our economy and helps to provide and secure jobs.  However, as many of us go into the holiday season spending that money might cause us to feel apprehensive or even fearful, especially in light of the recession.  How about consciously raising the vibe a little bit by turning the inevitable spending of our money into a blessed activity instead.  

In addition to remembering how much gratitude you feel about having any money to spend in the first place, use the affirmation below each time you hand over money during your shopping trips.  Hey, just maybe if we all start truly believing it can be done, our economy will bounce back with vigor in 2010!

Every time I send money forth, it is blessed and imbued with the power of multiplication and, therefore, my wealth is increased as it boomerangs the blessing back to me and my loved ones.

I belong to no church...

Once upon a time, I was a practicing Catholic.  At first, I unquestioningly embraced the teachings of the church... that is until I hit my young adult years and started questioning everything.  With all due respect to my friends and family members who are devoted Catholics, please know that I honor each person’s decision to walk the spiritual path that serves him or her best.  Even though I left the Roman Catholic Church, I have always loved that the word “catholic” is derived from the Greek root meaning “regarding the whole” and is more commonly referred to as meaning “universal.”  This is a poignant example of the truth found in the heart of the religion – in the birth of the message.  I also still practice (and pray) daily much of what I learned. 

This morning I awoke with a new level of clarity about the sacrament of confession.  It was something I hadn’t pondered for more than twenty years, but it had suddenly become clear to me why I had become so adamantly opposed to what I had been taught when I was little.  It was as if Martin Luther himself had visited me in my dreams!   

When I was a young person attending mass regularly, I could see the advantage of using confession as a purification process to prepare myself for the sacrament of communion. At some point, I decided that there was a something broken.  I couldn’t in good conscious practice this sacrament any longer.  So I stopped going to confession even though I struggled internally each time I attended church. 

Here’s why it seemed broken to me... As I saw it, I could disobey God’s commandments with the excuse that I am an imperfect being who is naturally prone to err and to sin.  I could privately confess my mistakes to a holy man – God’s representative – who is endowed with what seems like mystical, magical powers.  Somehow he has been given God’s permission to absolve me of the responsibility of the havoc my sins created in the world that week.  After that, I could go back out into the world and do it all again because this holy man would help me buy my way back into heaven the following weekend. 

As God’s emissary, the priest doles out penance, which involves supplicating in the pew afterward and reciting specific prayers a certain number of times.  Can you tell I had a problem with that too?  I always wondered how he knew how many of which prayer to assign.  I figured it had to do with the severity of the sin or the number of sins you confessed.  Maybe they teach a formula in the seminary.

This sin + that sin = a special combo of Hail Marys and Our Fathers.  If the sin is committed multiple times carry the 7 & multiply by 3, and depending on the answer, add on a Rosary... or a ½ dozen when there are multiple sins involved.

But I digress.  It’s true that confession made me feel more pure, righteous and holy for a time.  However, the idea that I could keep messing up and returning to the confessional for forgiveness and absolution bothered me.  Now I see that the potential to stunt personal growth is what got to me.  There’s a conflict here.  The church sermonizes that we should learn from our mistakes and grow, yet the implicit message is “Go ahead.  You can mess up over and over again – that’s why we’re here.”  This went beyond the mercy quotient as far as I was concerned and seemed a little too co-dependent.

And what if I keep God’s commandments so that I would have nothing to confess?  Ah, but we are told that this is not possible for we are imperfect sinners – redeemed but yet not redeemable.  In addition to my ability to reach my full potential being suppressed by the constant reminder that it isn’t possible, it’s an absolute requirement that I participate in the weekly confession process in order to receive the reward of the communion sacrament.  Jesus can only commune with me if I’m pure and forgiven by a priest?  Oh, and if I don’t participate in the sacraments, I risk Hell and condemnation. 

This carrot and stick approach assumes too much.  It’s the church’s forgone conclusion that I will sin because I cannot help myself.  It is as though I am an errant child who can’t and won’t ever know better.  Ironically, they taught me to know better... so well that I no longer sought confession because it seemed hollow, rote and unhelpful.

In spite of my misgivings and my disillusionment with the church’s approach, I recognize and honor the relief that confession brings.  The true release of the burden of guilt is a beautiful and sacred alchemy.  If profoundly felt and actively participated in, self-forgiveness is a powerful and memorable experience.  To know this aspect of God’s love and to take it deeply into your being is the most natural deterrent in the world from committing such a “sin” again. 

I have learned that lasting personal and spiritual growth truly occurs at the moment I embrace personal accountability.  If an intercessory, like a priest, is helpful in making a space for this to occur, then so be it.  I accept the possibility that even I will seek such a relationship in the future.  Maybe someday someone who’s specially gifted will help me in such a situation.  However, I choose not to abdicate the responsibility of my personal and spiritual growth to another entity, whether a person or an institution, in what I consider a carrot and stick system. 

For me, it wasn’t ever my faith that I questioned but, rather, my faith in a church to solely provide my spiritual guidance.  Even though I chose to leave the church and still belong to no church, I am in constant joy over how God works through my life.  I am a child of God – not a child of a church.

Breaking free from the prisons of perceptions

There is nothing so confining as the prisons of our own perceptions. –William Shakespeare

Maybe it’s as simple as consenting to watch a television program your teenager likes – at first you think the program is silly, but then you see why she values it and then so do you.

Maybe it happens when you’re looking for a new job because yours has been eliminated and at first you don’t want to take that great job which will require a hour-long (or longer) commute, but you do it because it’s better than waiting for the economy to rebound next year.

Maybe you encounter it when your childhood-influenced prejudice falls away after interacting with the special terrific-ness of someone you never imagined you would admire and respect.

Maybe it’s a subtle kind of thing that comes upon you as you move through life, like when you find yourself understanding someone you’ve known for many years by seeing things in a way you never have before... from their perspective.

Whatever it is, whenever it is, breaking free from the prisons of perceptions can shift a troubled moment into one of peace and joy.  I find this a suitable motivation, don’t you?

Self-awareness - asking yourself the tough questions

Webster’s Dictionary defines integrity as "the quality or state of being complete or undivided.”  You cannot get to a state of self-awareness unless you behave with integrity toward yourself.  So, in becoming self-aware you gain the added bonus of becoming complete or whole.  It all clearly ties together—courage to truth; truth to self-awareness; and self-awareness to wholeness.

Ultimately, the best and most effective way to get to a strong level of self-awareness is really very simple.  Just ask yourself the tough questions.  Do it constantly.  Always ask yourself why, what and where.  “Why is this happening, what brought me here, and where is it going?”  Like anything that you get comfortable doing, this process will become a habit.  Remain objective and do not judge yourself too harshly when you realize that you have not been acting with integrity toward yourself. 

Just remember that you are in control of your attitude and can change your reality.  The reason for becoming self-aware is to learn and change.  Just know that it is all as it should be.  You will become self-aware at the pace that is right for you.  The answers are what they are, and you must have the courage to simply analyze, learn and grow.

Stillness Can Be Felt Even In Times Of Change

The more seasons I move through in my life, the more I recognize the role of change in my life... and how very good change is for me.  However, I used to go through my days mostly trying to avoid change.  I thought my routines made things secure and stable, and that is what I kidded myself into believing that I wanted. 

I’ve observed that most of us do what we can to tame this moving universe we live in, but the real truth is that nothing is truly still.  For what we would be if we were not moving constantly?  What if it weren’t for inertia to move us through the density and destiny of this life?  Stagnation is usually considered unpleasant, is it not?

Change can be adventurous, it’s true, but how much adventure my life holds is up to me. As my little world changes, will I fight it and resist the current?  The more I do, it’s amazing how much more dramatic the change becomes – the dramatic fallout from the friction increases proportionately to the resistance I offer. 

We are taught by the masters to sit still and contemplate, meditate or pray.  What I have learned is that stillness does not only happen when the body is physically motionless, because I can feel stillness even while engaged in my daily tasks.  Being still is truly about stilling the urge to fight the stream of the ever-moving current.  Being in stillness happens when I align to the direction of the flow.  However, make note that though it might feel like stillness when going with the current, indeed, life is not even close to being still.  It is an adventurous river ride with changing scenes all around.  It can be a fun-filled, pleasant journey with time to enjoy the scenery, or it can be an exhausting, harrowing trip down the rapids!   

There is a plan for my life, and as I go with the flow if it, I begin to know the inner peace that the masters call stillness. They call it a quieting of the mind, which I now see is truly a quieting of the urge to fight the inevitable changing adventure of my life. 

Eight Eternal Truths

A friend brought these to my attention.  Each one deeply resonates for me - do they resonate for you?

Eight truths which are eternal:
 
1.  We must acknowledgement our self perfection – We are and always have been of the One both in Source and within our Journeys.

2.  Accept the journey for which we have come – why fight the very things which we have come to learn?

3.  Maintain Personal integrity – That truth which is ours amongst all other things, that opportunity which we give ourselves to find the truth within us, not that which we have been conditioned by others to perceive.

4.  Be that which you are, not that which you perceive others would see – You are created of light, of Grace, and of that there cannot be imperfection, only that which is of Spirit. You do not need to improve yourselves, only to acknowledge that which is your God self, your perfect being.

5.  We must acknowledge our value – This is different than accepting perfection. Your value is how you fit within the world within and the exterior world in which you exist. To perceive that your value is greater than another’s, or less than someone else’s brings you to lack of everything else.

6.  Accept Your Power – You are great and mighty. True Power comes not of ego, but the collective One of our Spirit. True Power is Gentle Power. You are of the light and in its seemingly nebulous construct is the essence from which all things are made. To fear inner power is to suggest that you are less than all other things. In Truth, power is of Grace, not of abusiveness or negative use and your Grace is born of unconditionality. True Power is that which is Love, the intentional living as co-creator from within all opportunities that are offered you.

7.  Take Your value, Your perfection, Your power, Your Grace into your world – In the Now that always is, change only comes from practice of change. What this means is that to effect change we must embody it. You must walk your talk, not hide that which you know. Historically, that which is hidden is viewed as heresy in relation to the accepted norm. To change this, it is to create a new accepted norm with ease and Grace by virtue of your walking within the very light from which you are created.

8.  Love yourselves and touch everyone you encounter with love – As all energy exchanges, what will You accept from others and what will you leave behind? You can see all others as mirrors of yourselves, that their pain also resides somewhere within us, that their joy is in our hearts as well. This is why random acts of kindness make such a difference. How many times have you said “There by the Grace of God go I”? It is true. It has always been so.

By Meg Blackburn Losey, Ph.D.
http://www.spiritlite.com/8keys.php

Life is but a dream...

In this world of dreams,
drifting off still more;
and once again speaking
and dreaming of dreams.
Just let it be.
-Ryokan


Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
-Matthew 14:30


Maya is the veil of transitoriness in Nature, the ceaseless becoming of creation; the veil that each man must lift in order to see behind it the Creator, the changeless Immutable, eternal Reality.
-Paramahansa Yogananda


"The world is a dream, you say, and it's lovely, sometimes.  Sunset.  Clouds.  Sky."
"No.  The image is a dream.  The beauty is real.  Can you see the difference?"
-Richard Bach, Illusions


Row, row, row your boat
gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily;
life is but a dream.

The Law Of Thought Into Manifesting... as a man thinketh...

You are the prophet of your future.  Every word you release into the universe has the creative energy and potential to manifest your future. –Simon T. Bailey

What you utter through your lips starts in your mind as a thought pattern.  Your thought pattern sets into motion that which you will co-create into the world.  The utterance is only the vehicle for the manifesting.  It is already begun when you bring forth the emotion of the thought.  Therefore, if you are in a negative mindset, you literally create a tangibly negative state of being for yourself.  It’s the law of thought into manifesting, and it is irrefutably the way it is. 

Why?  Because you are made in the image of God, and God-thought is what has created you in this now.  You co-create with this power that God has imbued you with, so you must be wary of how you feel and how you think and then how you speak this out into the world.  If you wish to improve your life, think it improving, and it will be so.  If someone asks you, “How are you today?” answer that you are doing great, and you will be doing great.  For you are in the moment of now, and in the moment of now you are doing great because you have empowered the thought of “great” into your being. 

Eckhart Tolle explores the moment of now at length in his book, The Power of Now.  But, put simply... you can’t be where you were, and you can’t be where you might end up going – you must be where you are because it is the one and only reality.  In the moment, you are doing great.  You are always doing great, actually, but the mind plays tricks on us with time.  The mind makes us think that we are wherever we aren’t... such as perceiving we are in the regret not doing great in the past or in the worry of the future, of course. 

The ancients knew of this law of thought into manifesting.  “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” -Proverbs 23:7.  So, this concept that you are the prophet of your future shouldn't be news to you or anything. 

Just remember that your words are powerful, leading from your thoughts and out into the world to create what will unfold.  Next time someone asks you how you're doing, don't say, "I'm okay."  Instead manifest a great future and say, "I'm great!"    

Penny for your thoughts? 

The Human Journey - Rules For The Road

As we embark on the next leg of the journey... the one that begins this first day of 2009, I am reminded of a wonderful little piece I read in the book, Chicken Soup For The Soul.  I thought I'd revisit The Rules For Being Human and share them with you today.  Happy New Year!

The Rules For Being Human

1. You will receive a body.
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.
2. You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life.  Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons.  You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of trial and error:  Experimentation.  The "failed" experiements are as much a part of the process as the experiement that ultimately "works".
4. A lesson is repeated until learned.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it.  When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of the life that does not contain its lessons.  If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
6. "There" is no better than "here".
When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here".
7. Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources you need.  What you do with them is up to you.  The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie inside you.
The answers to Life's questions lie inside you.  All you need to do is look, listen and trust.
10. You will forget all this.
—Chérie Carter-Scott

Turbulent Waters

When you’re in turbulent waters, do you tread or swim?  When your life kicks up a little storm, do you hang around being buffeted by the waves, trying to stay afloat, or do you strategize, plot a plan and navigate to a new destination?

In my opinion, too many of us want to stop where we are and have a little tantrum.  We want to complain to our friends.  We want to commiserate over the bad news on the radio and t.v.  We choose to stamp our feet, fold our arms and angrily declare, “How dare this happen to me?” 

What short attention spans we have.  The pendulum always swings one way and then another, yet we only see where we are and not the historical perspective at all.  We don’t see where we’ve been and what the possibilities could be.  Wasn’t it just a few short years ago that we experienced yet another downswing of the economy?  Wasn’t it just a few short years ago that we had scandalous goings on by the names of Enron and Worldcom.  How is this any different?  We’re at war, you might say.  Well, hello, when has humankind not been at war with each other?  And before you say that until now we hadn’t been officially at war since 1991, I put to you that we have always been involved in some sort of skirmish, large or small, since the inception of our country.  When it wasn’t this current Iraqi/Afghan thing, it was the thing in Bosnia and Kosovo or it was the thing in Panama or it was the thing in Grenada or it was the thing in...  well, you get my drift.

A few evenings ago I attended a professional event in which the attendees were asked to share their thoughts around the topic, “Finding the Hidden Opportunities in Times of Chaos”.  When it was my turn, I suggested we drop the “in Times of Chaos” part because I feel that we are always in times of chaos of some sort.  Additionally, I believe we should always be looking for the hidden opportunities in every situation, whether it seems chaotic or not. 

Basically, chaos is the turbulent water that life is made of, and it’s that turbulence which causes us to examine what we’re about and what we’re doing so we will make forward shifts.  Nothing, not even we humans, can defy inertia in this dimension of matter, time and space.  Scientists tell us that the universe is always in motion – shrinking, expanding, spinning, twirling.   

Will you make use of the chaos to move your life forward?  Or will you keep trying to tread water, exhausting yourself as you attempt to resist the inevitable changes occurring in your life.  Chart a course, use the waves to your advantage and come to shore, my friend.  I’ll be glad to meet you on the beach.