MIND CANDY

Four questions:  What are you believing?

Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who are you believing?

We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.  ~Hildegard of Bingen

Do you fear to use your Light....that unseen power?

Don't be intimidated by what you don't know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.                                                                                      ~Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx

When anything gets in our way of our greatest life, it is time for some Mind Candy. 
Where do you get mind candy? You, of course...your thoughts, feeling, beliefs, spiritual practice, your Bible (see Emerson quote above).

Where do you put it?

If you do not run your subconscious mind yourself, someone will run it for you.    ~Francis Scovel Shinn

Which leads me to the fourth question:  what are you feeding your subconscious? 

The subconscious mind has these eleven characteristics:  
1) It is awake, alert and listening 24/7/365+. It is not bound by time, space, mood, hairline, weight, intellect.

2) Thinks in the form of images. Your words turn into images in your subconscious and all are real to it

3) Communicates with you via emotions. Your emotions, appropriate or not, positive or negative are signals from your subconscious of your beliefs and perspective of any situation. It also speaks to you in dream state. See Freud about that.

4) Stores yours memories. I understand that the temporal lobe is the storage unit for the memories, but the subconscious is where they live. Sometimes it represses them for your protection and then, later,  sometimes it releases them for resolution. Fortunately or unfortunately that happens at the darndest times

5) Does not process negative words. Don't think about the elephant standing next to you. Did you see the elephant? It, like the Universe, computes what you are focusing on, so do that clearly, specifically and distinctly...what do you want!?!

6) Structures the perception of your reality. Every reaction you or interpretation you have its based on your beliefs in your subconscious mind. And sometimes it twists reality, based on your perceptions of a situation.

7) Generates, stores, distributes and transmits energy throughout your body. Have you ever felt tired after a meeting or even a lazy Sunday? That's because you mentally burned energy and that's tiring. Yet, when you burn energy exercising, though your muscles might ache, you feel energized. Your still burning energy, but the chemical reaction is different.

8) Deletes, distorts, and generalizes. Your subconscious mind will delete every bit of information it thinks is not necessary for you to pay attention to and a particular moment. When you selectively pay attention to something (focus), other sensory information is deleted. It also distorts information presented to your conscious mind in order to make it easy to understand, allowing you to make shifts experiencing the sensory data by making misrepresentations of reality. And it generalizes information presented to your conscious mind for ease in paying attention. For example, if you enter room, looking for a chair,  in-stead of presenting you “wood, brown, leg, leg, big, leather” your subconscious will generalize to “chair.”

9) Takes everything personally. Did you ever notice that the way you think about someone else is a reflection of how you think of yourself? You see and attract persons into your life that reflect your biases, perspectives and even some character traits. That's your subconscious mind at work. In it lies the basis for your communication with others. Of course, your conscious mind can override these traits, but, remember, everything you think and say can be used against you or for you in the law of cause and effect.

10) Controls your habits, but wants to follow orders. The subconscious mind has a structure, a code that, though is consistent and habitual, can be changed. It's like a record album. Your copy of Led Zeppelin IV (with "Stairway to Heaven") or Pierre Boulez and The Cleveland Orchestra performing "La Mer, Nocturnes, Jeux, Rhapsodie pour clarinette et orchestre" create the same sounds consistently, because of the pattern imprinted on the vinyl. The grooves are a code that the needle reads. Now, if I take a sharp object and scratch the record, the grooves (the pattern / code) will be interrupted and the record will never play the same way again. In a similar way, our habits and mental patterns can be broken or interrupted and new ones created by using tools, such as:  slapping an elastic band around your wrist (called a thought stop) or saying a certain word out loud when a negative thought pops up (“no, negate, stop”) or splashing water on your face or performing a power pose (which awakens all kinds of great chemical reactions - see Amy Cuddy's TED talk) or even doing 5 reps of an exercise. Tony Robbins is a master at this, though sometimes controversial in its execution, he shocks clients with provocative questions and other intimidation tactics to get them out of their story (a habitual comfort zone we all sometimes get stuck in), thus creating a thought stop in their subconscious and conscious minds for learning, evolution, clarity and healing.

11) Always wants more input! The subconscious mind is hunger for more, but it requires quality questions to answer for your best outcome and evolution. Ask questions like, “What’s my next best step?” You will find that the answer will be more solution-driven, enhancing the neural pathways with positive feelings, ideas and thoughts. With the Universe, as with the subconscious mind, be conscious and specific in the ask. Don't worry about the hows, just the whats. The hows will be taken care of by the Universe and you will be informed or intuited with your part in the hows....it will be in the answer.
Remember...

Emotions aren't permanent, memories are not your master, beliefs are changeable, habits breakable, values can be revisited, and imagination / intuition can be re-ignited.

Busy your mind with the concepts of harmony, health, peace, and good will, and wonders will happen in you life.  ~Dr. Joseph Murphy

Always ensure that you put beautiful images in your mind that will guide you through all you do. This will make you mind the gardener of good things, your subconscious mind the fertile soil. ~Felicia Pizzonia

Use affirmations, be vocally grateful for the littlest things, Breathe (not take a breath - that's involuntary [thank you subconscious mind]), get your butt in nature...all of these and more spiritual practices serve to wrangle the negative habits of your subconscious mind, in order for the conscious mind (more powerful, by the way) to change your beliefs. You know, energy flows where attention flows!

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.  ~ Carl Sagan

This is not just spirituality, this is science:  see information of epigentics and neuroplasticity in my previous blogs or in the expanse of Google.

Look around less, imagine more. ~Esther Hicks

Like a bucket you fill, drop by drop, clear your mind, heal your heart and fill your soul (Subconscious Of Unconditional Love); drop by drop choose delicious words that create delicious images for your subconscious mind's craving for input....it's fuel for the brain.

Let your spirituality and science merge with your best mind candy....everyday!

Affirmation
I am fearless!
I am bold!

I dance like nobody is watching.
I sing like I'm showering in the woods.

With the lusciousness of candy, I treat my mind to only authentic, empowering,  and grateful thoughts that sweeten the  deal for a prosperous, loving, and vibrant life which is abundant in vitality,  wisdom, humor, and beauty.

I am fearless and bold!

When Going Backward Is Going Forward

In the Spirit of starting from the back to go forward, here is how the blog ends:

You Are Powerful, Capable, Always at Choice, Open and Ready, 

Operating at the Speed of the Divine

Why the paradox of going backward to go forward?

There is a psychotherapy concept, asreculer pour mieux sauter:  going backward to be able to leap forward better. It is the process of going backward to your beginnings, whether you do it on your own, in a support group, or with the help of a psychotherapist, practitioner, healer, etc. which can, in effect, give you a running start when you turn around to go forward again.

When do we do that successfully?
1) With palindromes – backwards & forwards are same like with racecar, civic, deified, kayak, level, madam, noon, radar, refer, sagas, solos, tenet, and wow.
2)  In grief, like through a memorial or life celebration. They are full of memories which, in there reminiscence, assist in healing the grief.
3)  Living a life full of gratitude. Gratitude is the knowing and acceptance of past experience in the now.

In this process, asreculer pour mieux sauter,  you step into what Friar Richard Rohr calls, liminal space. From Living on the Edge, his Center for Action and Contemplation meditation blog, he tells us:

Liminal space (from the Latin limen for "threshold") is an inner state and sometimes an outer situation where we can begin to think and act in genuinely new ways. It is when we are betwixt and between, having left one room or stage of life but not yet entered the next. We often enter liminal space when our former way of being is challenged or changed--perhaps when we lose a job or a loved one, during illness, engagement, or at the birth of a child. During this graced time we are not certain or in control. This openness allows room for something genuinely new to happen. We are empty and receptive--an erased tablet waiting for new words. Liminal space is where we are most teachable.

An example in literature and popular culture is like the time between the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents and his becoming Batman. Or in Star Wars, during Luke Skywalker’s apprenticeship with Yoda in the swamps of Dagobah. Or in the classics like PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, the time between Elizabeth Bennet’s realization she likes Mr. Darcy and the moment she agrees to marry him.

Liminal space is where we transform, sometimes radically, and reveal and reorganize our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about things, thus our actions and experiences. Rites of passage are liminal spaces. Examples are going off to college, a bar mitzvah, a marriage, getting fired or laid off or death. My move in with Patte was a liminal space time. The decisions of her stuff, my stuff...what stays, what goes to the trash, recycling, storage. And closet space...I lost on that one.

Some are daunting challenges, destructive & chaotic; a time when we feel heartbroken and lost, must start over, or have that fearful "NOW WHAT?" in our heads. You ever feel like life is making you go backwards...in heels. An extra difficult position for most men. That phrase, "backwards in heels," originated in a 1982 Frank and Ernest cartoon by Robert Thaves. It was talking about Fred Astaire when one of the characters said, "Sure he was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did...backwards and in high heels." Have you ever felt that way? We probably all have been in that space and most of the time we don't do it with the grace and ease of Ginger Rogers.

Backwards is not necessarily a negative! I read a story about a Yoga teacher who said to her class one afternoon during a downward facing dog asana:

Sometimes, you feel as though you are riding the bicycle backwards. You feel like you are backtracking and heading in the wrong direction, but really what’s happening is contraction and release. The universe is preparing you for something much greater and like a sling shot, it’s going to shoot you forward - you just have to move backwards for a little bit.

Let's remember what Friar Rohr said:

...we often enter liminal space when our former way of being is challenged or changed...

Transformation is about decision. A decision to stay in the dark or step into the light. Again, Rohr:

During this graced time we are not certain or in control. This openness allows room for something genuinely new to happen. We are empty and receptive--an erased tablet waiting for new words. Liminal space is where we are most teachable.

Sometimes, we sit in resistant to the yuckiness. Don't! Go ahead and be sad, disappointed, angry, etc. Let's say 45 seconds. Then take action ... inward!

Decide:  Do I want to experience a woe is me life or a wow is me life?

Decide:  Do I want to do it the hard way or the natural/organic way … the factory settings way?

Decide...per Ralph Waldo Emerson:

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

What is "to be yourself" mean?

There's a story about caterpillar crawling to a wall. He looked each way, seeing what seemed like infinity. He looked up the wall, it was never-ending. Frustrated and angry, the caterpillar didn't know how to get over wall. He could try to crawl up the wall like some Navy Seal, but that would take a strength he did not possess. What was the caterpillar to do? Finally, in this liminal space, it decides to be patient, using the strategy of allowing its true self to emerge. He crawled up a nearby tree to contemplate. Two weeks later, the caterpillar true self emerged and just flew over the wall. It transformed by transcending through its true and authentic nature.

The trick, when you are in that liminal space -that graced time...the most teachable moment- is to stop and listen, stop working on the solution, the fix, or the how and commit to the what; and remember who you are...get back to the basics, the factory settings I wrote about last time.

Estelle Frankel, Berkeley psychotherapist & teacher of Jewish mysticism:

...if I take the time….to sit down, close my eyes, say a prayer, open myself to Spirit, then my identity begins to expand, and I remember that I’m not just Estelle, the personality, that I’m a soul, that I’m an embodiment of the Divine, and I move from what Jewish mystics say is ‘small mind’ to ‘big mind’ (also, the Buddha said that). And in that other state, the bonds of the self, the small identity that limits us and dictates who we think we are, it frees up – it’s sort of like a zooming out that you would do with a camera, but it’s zooming out all the way to infinity, all the way to eternity, beyond time, beyond space. And in that moment of deep meditation, or prayer, anything becomes possible, because you are rising above the workings of time.

You are allowing Self to re-emerge! A new you? Maybe...probably, but through the oldest of you … the eternal you … the Divine YOU!

The answer or treat may hide in so and so's books, but all are saying so much of the same thing in a new vernacular. Ideas like Thoughts are things, change your thinking/change your life, the Universe has your back, or by using the countdown method of Mel Robbins or the take dynamic/bold action ideas of Tony Robbins (no relation), through affirmative prayer and other spiritual practices; all are really ancient wisdom from all sorts of cultures, theologies, philosophies, ideas, etc. re-packaged.

There is a vibration, an energy that is always there to tap into; it's first step in these liminal space moments, in these times of transformation. It is there we can move any story of woe / chaos / indecision / loss of control / being off balance; any feelings of “what the hell am I doing and how the heck did I get here?” or the “What now???” to the state of wow:

There's a living Presence within and I recognize It as the One and Only Power in the Universe and I unify with It.

You are of IT and that cannot be taken away from you!!! So stop and listen! The Universe, it has the hows and the strategy you require to transcend the transformation, to allow the new you to emerge from the original you … to reanimate the Divine Intelligence that is seemingly lying dormant.

In that liminal space where you are the most teachable, go back to basics. Transform into who you already are! And that is:

You Are Powerful, Capable, Always at Choice, Open and Ready
Operating at the Speed of the Divine

At the Speed of Love!

...even backwards...in heels

Affirmation
Think, feel, believe and pray....that is what I am doing today.
Think, feel, believe and pray....deciding that this is a fabulous day.
I think, feel, believe and know my life shines bright through the thoughts I sow. 
Within, I declare and reveal my best, optimized from this day forward, from now to the rest.
Dancing into a life so full, I surround myself with love, kindness, wisdom, creativity and vitality....nurturing my body, mind and soul with goodness, laughter, and gratitude.
Hallelujah!

Who's Healing Who?

Do you believe your thoughts and feelings influence your experiences?

How many of you have a clear vision of yourself?

We go to the doctor....prescribed pills, etc. for healing. We go to a therapist or life coach - talk out our feelings and then given tools and practices to put into our daily lives for healing. We go to a financial adviser, get ideas or suggestions for investments and habits to heal our money life. We take classes to gain insight and knowledge...healing. But who is healing who?

All pills, procedures, advice, tools and education are hindered without consistent and intentional mental work. Studies have shown that you are using your 60k to 70k thoughts everyday to create your reality. And 90% of them lead you to the same choices and behaviors .... which lead you to the same experiences. They are reflections of your thoughts and feelings, which lead you to more of same and the circle continues. In a way, this sequence of thought events becomes your personality and your personality creates your personal reality. It creates the energy of you that the Universe uses as information to manifest the experiences of you.

Everything is energy; that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want & you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.   ~Albert Einstein

There's a neuroscience principle that tells us that nerve cells that fire together, wire together. So, thinking the same thoughts, with the same feelings about those thoughts, produces same neurons sparking in brain and flooding your belief system with those same thoughts and feelings. They create a hard-wiring into a signature, an energy, a code that the Universe reads and converts into the experiences you are having. As you fire and wire those circuits the same way every day, they create a consciousness that pervades your thoughts, attitudes, emotions and perspectives. And once they get into your subconscious, they become habits of thinking...habits of belief; they become memorized and unconscious, working like a computer program day in and day out.

It is a chemical reaction in your brain that conditions the body to react in certain ways to continue this circle. The body doesn't know the difference between an actual experience and the chemicals created from the feelings you have about that or similar experiences, so then this idea/belief shows up in your relationships, at work, in your pocketbook and in your body temple. Your feelings about something becomes a mood, which becomes a temperament and these temperaments becomes a personality trait. The synapses are firing and the circuits are opening, so that this personality trait becomes a belief, and a belief flavors, colors and your experiences.

When you think of your first kiss, what feelings rush in?

When you think of a vacation or when you got your diploma, 

do you get flushed with feeling?

When you get the mortgage bill, do you get a rush with a feeling?

Positive, negative, good, bad or indifferent (no indifferent feelings), these feelings drive specific thoughts and these specific thoughts, consistently fire the synapses in your brain, become beliefs and those beliefs inform the Universe what to manifest into your life experiences.

The goods news is neuroplasticity. That is the brain's ability to form and reorganize synaptic connections. There was a time when it was thought the brain became somewhat static, but later scientists realized the brain electro-chemical reactions could be modified, enhanced, evolved, and reorganized. Reorganizing synaptic connections is accomplished by getting in there, rebooting and re-treating those attitudes, perspectives, thoughts, ideas, feelings and beliefs through learning and spiritual practice. Every time you learn, hear these principles, treat, etc., you double the connections in your brain. Yes, double. A gentlemen won a Nobel Prize for a discovery similar to that statement. By flushing out old destructive ideas, habits, energy and frequencies with the constructive ones, you clean, clear and heal the destructive ones. It's like when you have a dirty glass of water. If you continually fill it with clean water, eventually you will have a clean glass of water, overwhelming and cleaning the dirty water in the glass.

Now, you instinctively know this stuff. That is why you are here, why you do the affirmations I or others write...to learn, step up, re-treat your mind, bust through, soar and zoom. But without the clear vision, even if not realized yet, of your life, you will stay hard-wired in the consciousness of where you are now thinking/feeling/experiencing that you don't like or does not serve you anymore.

Can you believe in a future that is not fully able to be experienced

 by your senses?

Can you have a vision of your life even when no evidence is in 

the factual world?

I have a vision of 1000 people every week, communing, gathering, fellow-shipping, loving their New Thought Spiritual Center family, community and organization. This vision must be more powerful and more consistent than what I see on Sunday's right now. And not just in my mind, but in my body; it must be a holistic, whole body experience.

Epigentics tells us that the chemical tags on DNA, called telemeres, have the ability to turn genes on or off. These chemical tags can be influenced by environment, metabolism, lifestyle choices, diet, and stress; all chemical reactions in the body. So too, research is thinking, from the chemical effects from your thoughts and feelings through the mind-body connection.

Opening your heart with spiritual practice, getting back to the factory settings (see Factory Settings blog), slows down, stops and even reverses the damage, the trauma, the PTSD of any situation being held in your emotions/feelings. Dr. Joe Dispenza and Mind Heart Institute studies concluded that when we exchange hopes, wishes, resentment, frustration and fear for gratitude, appreciation and thankfulness, we stop emitting the survival emotional stress hormone that exacerbates the condition, cortisol, and the telomeres in your DNA lengthen, the immunoglobulin increases, genes in your immune system switch on, neurogenesis kicks in, anti-aging and anti-inflammation genes switch on, and this can all begin to happen, some studies say, within four days. Four days and you begin to have healings!

Is it a panacea for all healing? It can be. It is however not an excuse for avoiding medication, education, nutrition, physical therapy, physical fitness, eating nourishing foods, etc. It is an enhancement, assurance, and supplement to whatever is being used or done. When you think new thoughts about the “what if's” of your relationships, career, health, finances, etc.; you turn on the frontal lobe of your brain, firing new connections, selecting different networks of neurons; putting them together, which then fires new sequences, patterns and combinations and synapses.

The healing begins and ends with you. You may have assistance from a professional or expert, a pill, therapy, procedure, practitioner or prayer partner, but it begins and ends with you. When you release the idea that you are a victim and believe you are the victor...you have a healing. You are the creator, the cause of the effect and when you live that, you have a healing. The more you communicate your vision to your mind... you have a healing.

So....who's healing who? You are healing you! Bust through the thoughts and feelings that you 'aren't this' or 'have to do that' to be well, then watch your life soar and zoom with ease, grace, abundance, prosperity, creativity, and love.

Affirmation
My body is the temple of the Spirit in me. I fill it with nourishing food, nourishing thoughts, and feelings that uplift the heart.

Within me is not just parts. Within me is the great power of the I Am. I Am vibrant in energy and exquisite of sense, I Am clear in breath and nimble of foot....I Am boldly Lit with the power and radiance of the Sun. I sing the body electric...of wonderful vigor and beauty of person, tempered in mood, but fierce in my passion and bliss.

I Am a poem, revealing the Divine in me.

Factory Settings

This is our theme this month.

When we break it down, the word has a great meaning that usually isn't concentrated on or used:

RE means again or again and again 

TREAT means Behavior:  how we regard, discuss or act toward ourselves/others. It also means Healing:  how we tend to or minister to ourselves and others. In addition, it means Celebration:  how we gift, pleasure, share and amuse ourselves and others. Finally, it is the application of a process:  how we prime and prepare ourselves or others, our minds, with thoughts, feelings and beliefs. A process would include spiritual mind treatment, prayer, meditation, etc.  So you could say that to retreat is to again and again be in a process of celebrating the healing and the revealing of our best selves. It is the application of returning to our factory settings.

Treat is also a Swedish hard rock band from the 80's, but today, I am writing about our Factory Settings. Originally, I was going to call this, “Make a Fresh Start,” but it sounded as if we go out of date, like a gallon of milk. Then I came up with, “Waking Up to the Original You,” but instead of concentrating on the new or the old, I decided I wanted to concentrate on the original; the factory settings of who and what we are.

Remember a few months ago, I described how we got here, our origins? It was in the context of how the Genesis tale and the Big Bang theory connected. Let me tell it again, quickly:

Once upon a time there was an energy, a force, a Divine Intelligence. Within the vastness of It's Mind, It decided to express Itself by creating a vast cosmos of planets, moons, galaxies, and suns - each an unique, individual, and special idea. Some places were very cold and rocky, dry and bland; others were hot and powerful; and others of great beauty and color.

Then this Powerful Source noticed something, “Hey, it's dark.” Another idea lit up Its Mind and the Source of all created a powerful celestial body that emitted rays throughout a Milky Way (not the candy bar). This Divine Intelligence thought, “Wow, very cool. I speak my Word and call these rays, light. Great, now I can see things. Light, I like it, it is Good.” And the planets, moons, etc. expressed themselves by spinning around.

After a while, Divine Intelligence got bored. “Now what?”, It thought. This Divine Intelligence decided to work on a specific celestial body, a planet, let's call it Gaia (no),Terra (no, sounds like a plantation), uhhhh, Earth (not sure, what that means, but whatever), let's call it Earth. So this Earth was the project of the week for Divine Intelligence to express Itself. And Divine Intelligence … omg, it takes so long to say that ... Divine Intelligence … wait, we'll call It God from now on. So God...hey, It's just a word...God decided to plant Itself by decorating this Earth place with nice green and brown flooring, a pretty blue ceiling, and also seed the place with nice art, like fruit-bearing trees, herbs, and flowers. It stepped back and said Its Word again, “Mmm, Good” and then napped.

The next day, God looked around and thought “Nice place, but it's a little quiet.” So It made the animals, the birds, and the fish. They barked, roared, chirped, meowed, and buzzed; squirmed, swam, flew, creeped and many other things. And God liked that and decided that was Good...and napped again.

The next day God was looking around and decided that It needed to express ItSelf a little more boldly. Maybe a bit more drama might be interesting. “Maybe a creature that does more than eat, poop, and mate,” It said to Itself, “something that has access to my powers of creation. Hmmm, now that would be interesting. If I gave this creature the power to manifest any and everything they desired, positive and negative (whatever they decide that means), that would be interesting. This creature would have unlimited possibilities in their life, choose which thoughts and ideas to grab on to and manifest in their life....that would be interesting. I will speak my Word and make it so … in fact, I will make it so that they will be able to speak their word and make it so. Way cool!”

And God said, “And so It is.” and took a nap...and so it was!

This illustrates what our factory settings are, what we might have forgotten in the last few months or years of the energy and presence that produced all that is. Rumi reminds us: 

You were born with greatness
You were born with wings
You are not meant for crawling, so don't!
You have wings
Learn to use them and fly.

It is time to reboot our perspective on life, return to our factory settings in this regard. We get so wrapped up in tweaking and living life, we have forgotten those factory settings. George MacDonald, a Scottish poet, author, minister once said: 

Sometimes I wake up and lo I have forgot!

There was a four year old girl named Sarah who had a new baby sister, Julie. She wanted to spend some time alone with Julie. She asked her parents if she could go alone into Julie's room to speak with her for a bit. The parents were a bit skeptical at first, but decided it was okay as they had a baby monitor in the room. So off went Sarah to Julie's room. As she closed the door, her parents rushed to their bedroom and huddled around the baby monitor. They heard Sarah step to the crib, the creaking sound from her leaning over the railing informing them of where she now stood. After a moment, they heard Sarah whisper to Julie, "Hey Julie, I am beginning to forget...tell me about God."

We begin to forget who we are, where we came from and what's going on in the Universe. Dr. Ernest Holmes, author of The Science of Mind, started radio show with, "There is a Power for Good in the Universe, greater than we are, and you get to use It." You are using It right now. Don't you want to use it for bringing good stuff into your life?  Remembering who we are and where we come from is the Ctrl Alt Delete of the human experience. As with the computer, it is the reset/reboot/restart/re-treat process of returning to our roots, so to speak. It is a return to a state of Mind and Being, synchronized with the Divine.

Make for me a sanctuary and I will dwell in it. ~Exodus 25:8

This scripture text is not talking about a building, it is talking about consciousness. Put Source into the sanctuary called YOU and It shall dwell in it. Now, of course, the Divine is within you already, but to the degree you are conscious of it is what is important here. Your perspective on life derives from your faith and connection to the Divine.  Only you have the Power to make that connection, to make joy, the state of Being derived from being consciously and intentionally connected to the Divine,  the state of mind you want to live in.

We need to have a relentless appetite for the Divine. We need a holy ravenousness, to be that Divine that is you. We need to have a ravenousness for that which we are....return to our factory settings. Remember:

You are the actor, the director and the playwright in your life. 

You are also the casting director: what roles are you casting yourself in? 

You are the sculptor: how will you mold your life? 

You are the painter: what colors and shapes will you present to the world? 

You are the gardener: what seeds will you plant 

and how will you nourish those seeds to burgeon into beauty? 

Awaken to the old you, the original you, the Divine You. Be the YOU of your factory settings and BE the creation YOU want to be! Sometimes we have to reboot, so go ahead, push Ctrl Atl Delete; that's okay – it's partially why you are here, to re-treat to the factory settings every once in awhile.

Retreating is not like what they do in wartime and it's not like reliving a past; it is more like returning to what Emma Curtis Hopkins said in THE RADIANT I AM:

I know that I AM at my own Center, authority over and through my universe, and I shall ordain my ... powers, to spread my Original Nature abroad till, from me to the utmost stretches, all is my Divine Ego.

And by Divine Ego, she means Entertaining God Only.

The I Am is you! Divine Intelligence has embedded Itself in you. The kingdom of heaven is in you, that is the factory setting....infinite possibilities, which knows no age, creed, race, gender, etc. God in you, as you, for you and with you!

This month, as you begin to Re-Treat your Mind – reboot to the factory settings and reveal the Divinity in You and watch your life soar and zoom into its greatest experiences!




Affirmation I return to my greatness. I return to my best.
I restore to my birthright with excitement and zest.
I come back to the moment when all life made sense.
I return to my magnificence and walk away from the rest.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation - Part Two

I think midlife is when the universe gently places her hands upon your shoulders pulls you close and whispers in your ear, "I'm not screwing around oh it's time all of this pretending and performing these coping mechanisms that you've developed to protect yourself from feeling inadequate and getting hurt has to go. Time is growing short there are unexplored adventures ahead of you. You can't live the rest of your life worried about what other people think. You were born worthy of love and belonging courage and daring are coursing through you you were made to live in love with your whole heart. It's time to show up and be seen."      ~Brene Brown

I'm not sure where this comes from or where she said it. I think this is occurs at any time of our lives anytime that we are stuck in the habits of "I have to do this, I have to do that, this is where my life is and and too bad." That's when we need to step up and do what she's talking about. The Universe is going to show up to give us that push, we just need to be conscious of listening, of hearing that knock; of feeling that tap and sometimes, sometimes the Universe needs to take us by the shoulders and gives us a stern, "hello...hello...wake up, I'm not screwing around this time." This could and should occur any age. These coping mechanisms that we developed to protect ourselves from feeling inadequate or just adequate and getting hurt, that could happen at any age. Now by midlife, I totally get that it seems to be more prevalent, because after years of living you know we really program ourselves to do certain things, feel certain ways, project certain things, have a perspective of certain things that protects us from incidences, feelings, people and situations that hurt us in whatever way. I think that happens at all times of our lives, the universe will say either by a tap on our shoulder, a bird hanging out tweeting staring at you, by watching a deer come up to you or by something you don't usually feel a kinship to you showing up and affecting you. We have to take note of those things. We have to take those things to heart, take those synchronicities to heart, and know that is the universe knocking on our door, shaking us by the shoulders and telling us, "hello, wake up, did you not get it the first few times, did you not see the Universe waving the big red flag? Why are you doing this again, why are you picking this the same type of mate, why are you taking the same job, why do you think you're attracting the same kind of boss?" We need to watch, look for, and take action when those things show up, when the Universe knocks on our door.

Look for those moments and be in gratitude when the Universe brings those moments to you, and to be a student, be teachable when those moments come, when the Universe knocks on your door or shakes your shoulders. Take the time be grateful for that synchronicity and take the intentional conscious time to do your spiritual practice. Whether it's more in a logical type of mental work or heartfelt or some combination, Now you know I love the holistic idea of little logic, a little intelligence, a lot of heart and openness in my gut for the imagination and intuition. Then  take the time to be in gratitude and to be a student when those synchronicities,  when the Universe, when the law knocks on your door and says, "hello I'm here, this is happening for you, this is the action you want to take to continue....listen.

After visiting family and canoeing on the Shenandoah River, Patte and I went on a tour of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. The house tour was great and the little exhibits were very educational. I found the architecture and his little touches (he was the architect) fascinating. The other tour we took was called the Slavery Tour. This is where my visit got upsetting and thought provoking. I was quite moved by the separation between Jefferson's ideals and his life choices. The dichotomy between many of his his ideas and the action Jefferson took was disturbing.

On the obelisk at his grave, he insisted the following inscription...

Here was buried Thomas Jefferson 

Author of the Declaration of American Independence 

of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom and

Father of the University of Virginia 

 ...that is how he most wanted to be remembered

In original draft of the Declaration, in damning, fiery prose, Jefferson denounced the slave trade as an “execrable commerce ...this assemblage of horrors,” a “cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberties.” Jefferson called slavery a “moral depravity” and “hideous blot,” that slavery presented the greatest threat to the survival of the new American nation. ...it was said, “Never did a man achieve more fame for what he did not do.” But, of the over 600 slaves he had, only freed 7, two of which were his sons by a promise to Sally Hemings, his enslaved mistress (step sister to his wife), who wasn't technically freed, but given special privileges and after his death and allowed to live in Charlottesville.

A high idealist, we think of Jefferson, yet his ideals were filtered by the times and his perspective of the levels of humanity where he found the white educated landowner male the top of the food chain and the African the bottom, with women and Native Americans (Aborigines) somewhere in the middle. He held a set of great ideals that the freedom in this country were founded upon, though they were rooted in discrimination, racism and sexism ... “all men are created equal” not women, not humankind....men.

Hypocrite or creature of his times?

Jefferson said he despised the practice of slavery, but felt to emancipate them would start a bloody war, which it did in the Civil War. Eventually, I got to considering how this mirrors what we all can go through. We filter our thoughts likewise, as he did, with imitating social norms, what our parents taught us and the ideas we have accepted as truth. We, many times, have a Civil War going on inside our minds...in our beliefs; that sometimes can get bloody..

And the Law hears all that and frames our experience based on all of our beliefs, filters, and perspectives. If your ideas and ideals are high minded about abundance or prosperity in the various parts of your experience, but are filtered, through your beliefs, of “I’m not enough” shame, blame, guilt, and the rest...that’s what shows up - a combined experience. New car? Great, but your filtering in the belief system of "I don't deserve...," brings you a lemon.

Success or failure cannot be explained by anything other than the use and misuse of mental processes. The subconscious mind produces what we place in it. It is a creative process. It is a law of action. ~Raymond Charles Barker, THE POWER OF DECISION 

That’s why the work to bring better experiences has to be constant, conscious, intentional, infectious, consistent and often....

Spiritual treatment work is the shifting of your attention from a negative focus to a positive idea and holding it there long enough for it to register in the subconscious mind. ~RCB, TPOD 

Some or many times very hard work mental work has to be had. The conscious, intentional work is  powerful work, but sometimes, hard work. You may have some shadow work, digging deep to old mental habits, some unconscious. And this can be great and revealing, transformational and transcendent work, especially when you understand those old beliefs are not something to be in shame, blame or guilt about, just healing.

Bit by bit it changes, adapts, and creates new perspectives; positive perspectives, empowering perspectives that clear your beliefs and manifest clear, specific joyous experiences.

As you think yourself in larger terms, you invite larger ideas into your consciousness.    ~Barker 

Let us do better with our ideals than Jefferson, by putting them into action, into practice. Let us:

Decide to be more abundant 

Decide to be in health

Decide to be surrounded by loving relationships

Decide, declare and decree

 What your mind can conceive, you can achieve! 

Affirmation
I step into the warmth of the season. I may vacay from work, but I do not vacation from my conscious connection with the Creative Presence in me. I step up and lift my consciousness to the Light. I open my heart to the Light, and reveal that Light within me, experiencing the luminous Love, joy, prosperity and phosphorescent happiness in my life. I step into the Hands of Grace.