The Greatest Secret Is There Is No Secret

photo by Kristina Flour on unsplash.com

I'm sick of all the insincere...

This time

Don't need another perfect lie

Don't care if critics ever jump in line

I'm gonna give all my secrets away 

 ~Ryan Tedder, lead vocalist – One Republic

The greatest secret of them all is there is no secret:

...there is no secret way to manifest

...there is no secret way to stay healthy

...there is no secret to healthy relationships

...there is no secret to any of that or more

There is no secret because, by definition, nothing is being kept from you. And it's not just because there are books to read for these tools and ideas, the best teachers are out there to teach you these tools and ideas, or even because the internet has these tools and ideas readily available to search for. Your mindfulness, imagination, curiosity, open-heartedness, sense of wonder, and being present is all the education you require.

Your senses are your teacher. Your willingness to explore is your teacher. The power and presence that is innate in you is your teacher. No one and no thing is keeping a secret from you.

Exploration isn't just about hiking the Andes, diving into the Mariana Trench, or experimenting with hallucinogens. Exploration is living with eyes wide open. Exploration is having your heart and brain awake. Exploration is hearing, listening, and comprehending. Exploration is allowing, connecting, and receiving inspiration, information, and motivation.

All of that is already a part of you. All of that is given to you at birth, even if some biology of the senses are not working like others, another takes over with added sensitivity...it's not a secret.

There is no need for a dark night of the soul to have a breakthrough. You are not more deserving of enlightenment if you have:

     ...felt isolated from any or everything and abandoned by God or the Universe

     ...felt lost and confused about your direction

     ...felt despair and horror with what's going on in the world

     ...felt a sense of overwhelming dread or deep tiredness in your bones

     ...felt your motivation shot to hell and a loss of interest in most things

Keep pondering your purpose or who you are and feel like you don’t belong on this planet or trauma, sadness, hurt, etc.

You also don't have to go through:

• Unhappiness, despondency, and feeling loss...then
• Shifting perspectives...then
• Seeking answers and meaning...then
• Finding answers and experiencing breakthroughs...then
• Disillusionment and feeling lost again...then
• Deeper inner work...before
• Integration, expansion, and joy shows up in your life

I'm not saying it is wrong to go through those things; the point is...you don't have to.

Believing there's some secret(s) that is kept from us that we have to seek out “or else,” puts us in a lack/victim mode. Why start there?!? - behind, catching up or even middle there or end there?

I didn't have to have kidney stones to tap into some anger that was lurking in me, except that I wasn't open to learning and dealing with it without the 4-day pain event - evidently. But there was no secret kept from me. I didn't have to go through the whole pre-divorce marriage junk events to see the red flags, I chose to ignore them. Some reasons for that were noble and some were because of wearing a blindfold, but there was no secret kept from me.

We should start in the empowered mode, and expand from there. We don't need to go through a long process to authenticate the Divine in us. Authentication is not just about proof, but about acknowledgment, awakening and allowing, knowing and believing, and sitting in a pool of faith. There's no hypothesis that has to be proved unless you're starting in disbelief. There's no empirical evidence that you have to generate to answer the big questions; your wonderment, curiosity, imagination, and insight generate those answers.

Oh, I could give you tricks and hacks, reminders, and philosophy. And I do – every week. I could quote you to an inspired frenzy, motivate, lead, and teach you ideas and tools. And I do – every week. But it isn't a secret. You don't have to belong to a club or society, there's no dues required or fees involved, not even a book you must read or guru you must follow ...except me :)

There is no great and no small

To the Soul that maketh all:

And where it cometh, all things are

And it cometh everywhere.

I am owner of the sphere,

Of the seven stars and the solar year,

Of Caesar's hand, and Plato's brain,

Of [Yeshua's] heart, and Shakespeare's strain.

There is one mind common to all [individuals]. Every[one] is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. [One] that is once admitted to the right of reason is made [free] of the whole estate. What Plato has thought, [you] may think; what a saint has felt, [you] may feel; what at any time has befallen any[one], [all] can understand. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.   ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

We see multiplicity and we experience multiplicity, but the Truth is there is One Mind. And we are a sovereign agent of that One Mind. Because of that, we have access to the Universal Mind and all its information, wisdom, and infinite possibilities.

And if there is one mind, there is no secret to hold...no secret to be had. There is only education, enlightenment, and awakening, and we authenticate that by living it.

The doctrine of identity can claim that it is clinched by the empirical fact that
consciousness is never experienced in the plural, only in the singular. Not only has none of us ever experienced more than one consciousness, but there is also no trace of circumstantial evidence of this ever happening anywhere in the world.    ~Erwin Schroedinger, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and noted expert in quantum theory, statistical and electro mechanics, colour theory, thermodynamics,  general relativity, and cosmology – considered one of the fathers of quantum mechanics

We are going to discuss some quantum mechanics later this month. Till then, let us remember the greatest secret of them all is that there is no secret. There is only learning, remembering, awakening, and allowing.

You have already been stamped - certified

you are confirmed

you have been given full access

you are endorsed, validated, licensed, approved, and ratified.

        you are the sovereign agent of all information, everywhere. 

All you have to do is put the authentic You into practice!

Affirmative Incantation

I attest that Spirit empowers me to be my authenticate self

I attest to the freedom of choice that I always have to embody the best ideas.

I attest that any pain in my life is merely the compost to my next triumph.

I attest that I don't strive, I thrive

I attest to the Truth of my Being:

I am a bold, brave, succulent spiritual being having a vibrant, successful, and loving human experience. 

And I go through anything and everything with that idea always supporting and guiding me.

REMOVING OUR HUMAN CLOTHING

When you take your clothes off, what is left? Your naked body...your birthday suit?

When you take your human clothing off  -not just the clothes-  the skin, the bones, hair, teeth, organs, along with your mental stuff, your practicalities, your actions; down to the very cells of this vehicle called the physical body...what is left?

Some would say “nothing.” Some would be wrong. What is left... 

          is everything

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.  ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

When all else seems to be failing, when nothing seems to be going my way, when my life seems to have been wasted, I know it's time to remove my human clothing. I'm not talking about ending it all, returning to pure Spirit, because I don't have to end it all to connect to and live as pure Spirit.

We've seen that proved in many NDE stories. 

Read:  "Proof of Heaven" by Eben Alexander

...a neurosurgeon who had a week-long coma brought on by meningitis and was incapable of brain activity yet he remembers this experience of pure Spirit.

Read:  "To Heaven and Back" by Mary C. Neal

...former director of spinal surgery at the University of Southern California was submerged in a river after a kayaking accident.

Read:  "Dying to Be Me" by Anita Moorjani

Read:  "After:  A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond" by Dr. Bruce Grayson

...Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia 

In these stories, we learn that we aren't our successes or failures, or our brains or our bodies, we are spiritual beings.

You might remember that story I've told about the 5-year-old boy who kept asking his parents to spend some time alone with his new sister. When his parents asked him why he wanted this alone time with the new baby, the 5-year-old said that he needed to talk to her because he was starting to forget God. 

Have you forgotten how you are connected with Divine Intelligence?

Like God or the concept that is referred to as God, we are infinite beings. That creative energy that makes and made all, we are part of that. That is our essence - our Alpha and Zeta, our beginning and ending, from"womb to tomb," "birth to earth," our before and beyond...no time, no space.

Leslie Caron is quoted as saying:

In order to have great happiness you have to have great pain and unhappiness - otherwise how would you know when you're happy?

No offense to Ms. Caron, a nice person whose voice lessons followed mine many years ago. And others who have said something similar...I totally disagree. I don't believe you need a comparison to know or appreciate happiness, health, or success. To me, that idea is an ignorance of the learned, from one who is out-of-touch with one's Greater Self. Too many of us on too many occasions are not present in our bodies or minds. Marcus Aurelius, philosophical Emperor of Rome in the second century said:

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable...

And Margaret Lee Runbeck, author of 16 books and famous for her quotes, wrote:

Happiness is not a station to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.

How are you traveling and where are you traveling from? I can't answer that for you, that's your perspective to decide upon. But I can tell you that when you strip away your human clothing and awaken to your spiritual magnificence, intelligence, and creativity, you tap into an infinite storehouse of information, intuited ideas, wisdom, a foundation for clarity, and calm. When you remove your human clothing, you don't talk at the Universe...you talk to It, with It, and as It. You talk to that Power and Presence of Nature, that Infinite Wisdom. You connect to and converse with the Light and Power of God.

It is a sensation, a feeling like love. You don't see that Light, you experience IT. You don't see that Power, you live IT. Your goals may be powerful, but unless you connect with them like you do with Spirit, they are merely words and wishes, hopes and possibilities.

Remove the ego of lack, maybe, someday, tomorrow, before, victim-hood, bills, bosses, news, dis-ease of body, brain, relationships or situations, and even successes, acclaim, talents, victories, or any prosperity. Remove them from your head for now and what is left? Not emptiness, but the most full of all! 

You are left with the Prime. Do you remember what prime is? It is a number that can only be divided by itself and one, just like Spirit, the Divine Mind, the Creative Power, First Cause, the Absolute, the energy and frequency of the Big Bang, the Formless, the Radiance. Prime = One.

Remove our human clothing and we are at our Prime, our very essence / our very worth our headquarters / our factory settings, the basis of our existence, the dawn of our being, the birth of our humanity, the Genesis, the starting point.

Yeah, yeah, [Beyonce wrote] and the wind is talkin'

...With a melody that pulls you towards it

Paintin' pictures of paradise

Sayin', rise up ...light in the sky...

Watch the light lift your heart up

Burn your flame through the night

...Watch the heavens open

Yeah, Spirit  

Can you hear it callin'? 

Connect to, commune with, and awaken as the divine within you. Always start there and end there, no matter where you are or what's going on. It is there, without your human clothing, where you enhance, support, ground, center, expand, love, and transform your spiritual experience into your human experience...

...now, tomorrow, and forever.

Affirmative Incantation

I disrobe from my human clothing

...taking off the worries, disgust, judgments, and disappointments

I peel off the sludge of that which does not serve my greatest good

...stripping down to my very soul 

I divest of my ego

...and undress to my very essence

Today, Spirit speaks through me

Today, intuition from the wisdom of the ages guides me

Today, I am emboldened by my True Self to be bold and brave

Revealing the Divinity within me

Vibrating at the speed of that Divine Power

And busting through to soar and zoom into my best day.

What Are You Looking At?

Photo by Tachina Lee at Unsplash

Last week we talked about where it is best to look from. The Divine Matrix is the synergetic alchemy of using the head, heart, and gut-brain systems to use Divine Intelligence, our feelings, and Divine Wisdom and inspiration to reveal, transcend, and achieve in life.

Today, I want to talk about what we are looking at? What are we observing? Are we looking at trouble - with a capital T, and that rhymes with P, which makes you a fool? Are we looking at limitations or infinite possibilities?

Spiritual growth is the act of letting go of any ideas, beliefs, and attachments that no longer serve us, like shoulda/woulda/coulda's, yeah-but's, and “I don't deserve it” junk thinking. When we are consistently focused on those kinds of ideas, we are not only not letting go of them, we are seeing everything through the lens or the perspective of that junk thinking.

New job interview? Thoughts surrounding you may be “they won't like me," or "I shoulda gotten that degree.”

New love relationship? Thoughts popping up could be “yeah, but something's gotta be wrong with him/her/they, it always is.”

New idea in your career, for the world, or creatively? Thoughts swirling in your head may include “Why bother, I never follow through.”

Those words and phrases are red flags about your belief system, your perspective on that activity, and what is getting in your way. So let's first look at letting go.

Forgiveness for errors, injustices, or debts

This is something that has gotta happen to allow space in the head and the energy you exude. Remember forgiving is not condoning. Forgiving is the release of those limiting ideas' hold on your perspective. When we practice radical forgiveness, we are awakening ourselves to our highest, most capable self. It emancipates us from discord, making room for a greater good to be expressed or received, for change to take place, and for healing.

Spiritual Law tells us that spiritual growth cannot take place until we are open to learning, till we awaken to catching Spirit’s ideas about what we need to let go, and allowing the removal of obstacles and impediments which fog our way of living. As we let go, so too will Spirit’s highest ideas then be able to reveal themselves more frequently and powerfully. We forgive and let go to create openness and spaciousness so the Universe can release into our consciousness the greater idea, the best perspective.

When we look from our Divine Matrix, and embrace Spirit’s highest ideas and let go of the untruths and release the Truth, we automatically make room for being lifted out of wrong tendencies, discord, and illness. 

Our job is to ask Spirit what needs to be revealed to us and our work is to be still, listen to the voice within, and follow its guidance. 

Can we successfully release and let go of beliefs, ideas, and limitations without embracing their replacement? While we may see what to let go of and sometimes dig into it a bit for clarity, what we want to look at is the replacement of that belief.

Where your attention goes, energy flows, and manifestation then follows.

When we:

1)  Put our conscious attention on asking for Spirit’s highest vision of what needs to be let go;

2)  Keep our attention on this question long enough to receive the visionary insight on what needs to be allowed in and what we must awaken to; we then 

3)  Manifest our vision by committing to embrace the conscious and creative stages, in mind and action, of this intuited information.

When your attention goes to the possibilities, your energy flows from the intuited Divine nature, and your manifestations then come pure and clean.

Ignorance stays with us until the day of enlightenment, until our vision toward the Spirit broadens and casts out the image of a no longer useful littleness…. The will should hold it in place until the creative genius of the inner life transforms the image of limitation and transmutes it into liberty under law.   ~Ernest Holmes

Are you looking at the possibilities or the limitations? 

Have you heard of Bethany Hamilton's story? At the age of 13 as a rising surf star, Bethany lost her left arm to a 14-foot tiger shark, seemingly ending her dream career. However, through a foundation of faith, determination, and passion, one month after the attack, Bethany returned to surfing and within two years had won her first national title. At 17 years old, she realized her dream of surfing professionally and is an active surf competitor to this day, currently competing in the World Surf League tour events and other special events. In 2016, Bethany beat a six-time world champion and the top-ranked surfer in the world. In 2017, she was inducted into the Surfer’s Hall of Fame. 

Bethany sees her passion for surfing as a gift from God and is what compelled her to go back to the sport against all odds. She is constantly re-writing the supposed rules of logic, what's possible, and living her greatest life. Her story is dramatized in the movie ”Soul Surfer” based on her book of the same title, and her perspective of the incident is shown in the docs “Heart of Soul Surfer,” and “Unstoppable” along with her many other books like “Be Unstoppable” and the children's tale, “Unstoppable Me.” Bethany reminds us:  I don't need easy, I just need possible.

While it is not always easy to let go of our troubles or give up the things we resent and regret, when we connect what we are looking through with what we are looking at, we listen to Spirit’s highest ideas on what needs to be released and forgiven. And we:

• Live to be present
• Look for things to be grateful for each day
• Set boundaries to protect the important things
• Say no to the excess stuff or doing too much
• Aim to use time wisely to include sweet moments and see a world of possibilities.
• It's our daily choices that determine our outcomes.

With repetition, we’ll catch more insights and habitually expand our vision/mission/purpose. There’s a spiritual solution to every problem/condition. Stress, illness, or trauma might crack us, but it doesn't have to end us.

There is an ancient Japanese art called Kintsugi or golden joinery. It is a technique using a lacquered or resin-based gold dust for repairing broken pottery with seams of gold.  We can use a spiritual version of this practice through our Divine Matrix to repair any damage.

Are you looking at old stories or creating new ones?

Are you having a vision or dream that just floats around or are you envisioning and embodying it in the Divine Matrix?

Here is a process to see what shame and/or regret you may have that is fogging up everything you are looking at in mind and body, family and love relationships, community, friends, money and work, and in your connection to Higher Self and Source. Each piece of shame and regret story has 4 steps:

1. Summary of the shame and/or regret story
2. When did it happen (beginning and ending time)
3. Where did it happen
4. What were the deeper consequences of what you did and how did this affect your relationship with yourself and your life now? This step is the one to dig deep into.

When you have finished writing down (best with pen and paper) your Shame and Regret list, keep it safe from anyone else except a trusted friend, counselor, therapist, spiritual practitioner, or spiritual leader to who you will later read this. When you do choose the one person you will share the list with, please remind yourself to not allow any justifications to arise and to not solicit or allow any judgment, good or bad from the one you are reading this to. This process is only about communication with a trusted other and the openness to let it go. The release comes through the non-judged venting, to get it out of our heads both as a story and the energy it carried. When we have our ethics and integrity 'squeaky clean, we open up to receiving in a huge way and step into living our life large and free and powerful! 

Declare what your new story is NOW. 

When you look around you, what are you looking at?

• Are you looking at agitation or serenity? What you expect, you'll receive.
• Are you looking at a “woe is me” life or a “wow is me” life? Living life with wonderment and creativity is remembering that the power of You is essential no matter your age.
• Are you looking at the reflection of a victim or victor? The pain of any sort of trauma is not necessarily eliminated in this work, it is neutralized and replaced. To release and let go is to neutralize the pain from the old event and its hold on your perspective of life.
• Are you looking at practicalities or possibilities? Living with an attitude of being practical may feel safe, but understanding the infinite possibilities the Universe has available will expand your outlook, opportunities, success, and happiness.

Remove “impossible” from your vocabulary. The art of the possible tells us that we take our options and make the best of them. And our options are limited only by how we look at things. So become a wiser, stronger, more evolved human being by filling your cup / your mind with what you want to attract. Focus on that, not the old stories.

Then what are you looking at is...

a joyous, rich, succulent, fun, loving, peaceful, happy, and vibrant life.

Affirmative Incantation:  

I release.

I let go.

And I let the Divine in me inform, inspire, regulate and interpret all my dreams and desires.

Through the eye of any storm, I stand steady and nimble like the olive tree, in the zone of awakened awareness, and with Spirit-empowered readiness to take on all that steps into my life with ease and grace. My intellect, compassion, and instincts are handy and ripe with the smartest and most loving choices...the best choices for this day.

In this moment, and the next ones hereafter, I rise to my highest Self, confident of my fitness, goodwill, and willingness to be in my prime, vibrating at the speed of the Divine.

Standing On The Shoulders of Giants

So much of what I teach comes from Ernest Holmes and the books teaching the Science of Mind and Spirit, my teachers in New Thought, and those who have counseled me, been in class with me, or indirectly taught me or inspired me in other ways and from other fields of study. It all adds up and continues my growth and what I can bring to you. It also reminds me that though I may put a spin on something, make it my own, even inspire people with it, I am standing on the shoulder of giants. And even behind that, it is more about my openness to the open-source of all wisdom that comes to me from the Divine Source.

Like software for which the original source code is made freely available, and may be redistributed and modified, the wisdom of the ages and the intuitable creativity and imagination of the Universe is an open-source venue ...for everyone. Even Newton’s “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,” wasn’t entirely original...

In the 12th century - John of Salisbury, who described himself as Johannes Parvus, was an English author, philosopher, diplomat and bishop of Chartres said, "We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours."

I look at my library and I see all these ideas that interested me, were suggested to me or required for me to read, and some I don't remember why I was inspired to have them. Many are stalwarts in our teaching, but all of them created by standing on the shoulders of giants from ancient times to the last couple of centuries, or from each other.

It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.  ~Jean-Luc Godard

An everyday example is found in the book,  Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, where Nassim Taleb describes an evening of a dinner out...

I realized I was going to a place the likes of which have been around for at least 2,500 years, in shoes similar to those worn at least 5,300 yrs ago, to use silverware designed by the Mesopotamians and drinking wine based on a 6K year-old recipe, from glasses invented 2,900 years ago, while eating cheese unchanged through the centuries (in fact, the older the better – right? wine too) while awaiting a dinner prepared with one of our oldest tools - fire, using utensils much like those the Romans developed.

2021 is not a New Year, New You. It is a New Year, NEWER you. As singer/songwriter Peter Allen wrote, “Everything old is new again.”

January's theme, in our year of AWAKENING, was Believe It. What we believe is the ground floor of our awakening. What we believe is the basis with which we experience a fabulous life and a fabulous life is a creative series of connecting the dots of wisdom throughout the ages, ancient to modern to today into our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Here's an example of connecting the dots wisely. It is about creating something you probably have in front of you right now:

1. The first touchscreen was developed by E.A. Johnson for air traffic control almost 50 years earlier than this thing

a. by 1975 other engineers built upon Johnson's work, developed and patented usable models

b. around the same time, the University of Illinois was developing touchscreen terminals for students

c. the first commercial touchscreen computer came out in 1983, soon followed by graphics boards, tablets, watches, and video game consoles

d. Casio released a touchscreen pocket computer in 1987 (20 years before iPhone)

2. Likewise, Kane Kramer (23 yrs old) designed a small portable hand-held touchscreen digital music player called the IXI

a. 1979 invention inspired by the Sony Walkman

b. held only 3.5 minutes of music

c. Kramer pitched it with the potential for immediate delivery, digital inventory, taped live performances, digital storage, and the promotion of new artists and micro-transactions.

Sound familiar? All that got us to the iPhone. Similarly, the technology for a fabulous life is already present and ready to have the dots connected. We can stand on the shoulders of giants right now to make these ideas our own; from Ernest Holmes, the Vedas, James Allen, Meister Eckhart, Wayne Dyer, Florence Scovil Shin, and hundreds of others. Even Shakespeare, drew heavily upon prior works to observe and create from (some may say, plagiarize)

• Hamlet took inspiration from a play based on Gesta Danorum, a twelfth-century work
• Holinshed's Chronicles was a comprehensive history of Britain originally published in 1577 - a source for Macbeth, King Lear, and Cymbeline. 
• Parts of Antony and Cleopatra are copied verbatim from Plutarch’s Life of Mark Anthony. 
• Arthur Brooke’s 1562 poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet brought us Romeo and Juliet. And that poem came from a 1559 poem by Pierre Boaistuau, who in turn drew from a 1554 story by Matteo Bandello, who in turn was inspired by a 1530 work by Luigi da Porto.

In 2015, John Maxwell wrote a short primer on how to stand on the shoulder of giants. He said:

Stand on the lessons of history.

His example was through Norman Cousins, who wrote, “History is a vast early warning system,” teaching us to learn by mistakes. I say we learn by successes instead.

Stand on the lessons of others.

Throughout my life, starting when I was a very young man, I’ve made it a practice to spend time with people ahead of me on the journey. Observe and ask questions of people you respect, and you’ll gain incredible lessons that you can apply to your own life.

Stand on the lessons of experience.

When you learn from others first, you gain skills in evaluating experience in order to grow. I’ve often said that experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is. Use what you learn from others’ experience to evaluate your own, and you’ll go farther, faster, than you would have otherwise.

With your mentors, ally's, and life itself ... what is your history, your lessons, your experience? What do you believe? Whether you are new to this teaching or have been involved with this philosophy for a while, what are you doing with your beliefs?

The words are nice to hear and read - I know, but the belief and its integration, the awakening and embodying of it is essential to the transforming and transcending or for just having a happy life

You must be willing to incarnate your theology and illuminate the world around you … that devotion will give you the will to follow through on all you are guided to do, say, and become in this life. ~Carolyn Myss, Entering the Castle

We don't have to reinvent the wheel for a prosperous life.
We don't have to hold ourselves back or have misery in our lives to learn and grow.

When it comes to the ideas of:

• Divine Love always within and available
• Using the Law of Cause and Effect to reveal all  good in your life
• The One Mind and Unity of Spirit in all life
• Limitless Power of the Universe is available to us at all times

...our belief in them is proved by our use of these ideas, conscious or unconscious.

Take it all in. Don't lose the wisdom from the ancients because it's old and maybe abused. Don't lose the wisdom of the recent as just the latest fad or what those other people believe

Look at it, smell it, listen to it, touch it. Is it loving? is it constructive? Does it support:

• Divine Love always within and available
• Using the Law of Cause and Effect to reveal all  good in your life
• The One Mind and Unity of Spirit in all life
• Limitless Power of the Universe is available to us at all times

If so, add it in, make it your own, make it work for you.

Awaken your spirit to adventure; hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; soon you will be home in a new rhythm, for your soul senses the world that awaits you.   ~John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

Believe it, risk with it, love it, be it. Always remember that behind (and above!) it all is God, the biggest giant with the widest and strongest shoulders. 

As we advance through our year of awakening and continue allowing the evolutionary impulse of Spirit to work through us, let us remember and commit to an upward journey of Divine Unfoldment. Mary Shelley wrote in a preface for Frankenstein: “Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.”

Not the chaos of confusion, disarray, disorder, and mayhem, but the chaos of the cosmos, of the Divine, of the wisdom of the ages - an open-source of information, inspiration, and transformation.

You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you. ~Luke 17:21

Stand on the shoulders of my words and the words my words were inspired from, and the fruits where those were burgeoned and on and on till you get it, believe it, awaken to it; till you see further than ever before …and thrive!

Affirmative Incantation

Today I am lifted up and carried by the gigantic stature of that undeniable, ever-reliable Loving Intelligence that moves through me, with me, as me, and for me.

 I experience It's love like I do gravity, oxygen, magnetism, and electricity – in the result of Its power and presence in all of life.

I believe in It as I see It expressed in the beauty of nature or the eyes of a puppy or my truest love. I believe It as I hear It ringing in the sounds of the cooing of birds, the laughter of children, and the music that stirs me. I believe in It as It is disclosed in my freedoms of choice, words, thoughts, feelings, and actions. 

I believe that I Am to be guided and enlightened today, centered in the love and support of the Highest in me.

THE NIKE WAY

We should be careful not to divide our mental house against itself. Having announced the law of liberty, we must not deny it. When we shall all know the Truth, then ways and means and methods will be found for the freedom of all. The mold of acceptance is the measure of our experience. The Infinite fills all molds and forever flows into new and greater ones. Within us is the unborn possibility of limitless experience. Ours is the privilege of giving birth to it!   ~Science of Mind

Ease, like all of experience, is a choice we birth. It is a frequency in our cosmic collaboration, a state we allow to experience by aligning with it. We decide whether to have discord or harmony, chaos or order, disarray or synchronicity, or difficulty or ease.

“Here you go blaming any unease in my life on me again,” I can hear you say. Well, it's not about blame, it's about responsibility and power - your responsibility to be open to and allowing yourself to change your thinking with the power of choice

With COVID and other crappy things happening around us, it can be hard and you may need to wallow in it some. Go ahead – wallow in it some...I'll wait...a little bit. I get that it seems impossible to get through or past all this, but so was:

• the sub-4-minute mile till Roger Bannister, 1954
• the horse-less buggy or air flight until Karl Benz, 1886 and the Wright Brothers, 1903
• the World Wars, the Depression

Yet, each of these beliefs was proved wrong by someone at one with their purpose and with faith in their ability, willingness to step out of their comfort zone, and deciding that nothing could sway them.

And we can -will- do that too!

What makes life comfortable, relaxed, unembarrassed, reassured ... at ease? Does it take willpower - push, push, push? Or can you choose to be calmly decisive, continually improving / transforming/transcending, being filled with grace and gratitude, and applying yourself with the discipline to focus on the good - on what you want and have control of - you?

When we start thinking things are going to be hard, expecting difficulty, stop signs, and barriers; when we withdraw from activating our power, we get everything we want...difficulty. Instead, use this information to empower you to correct wrong-thinking.

What empowers a life at ease?

When you start thinking things are going to be hard, first - forgive yourself. Allow yourself to start shifting your thoughts in new ways that align with a life of ease and withdraw from thought patterns that don't fit that vision of ease. New patterns of thinking require willingness and allowing, forgiveness, and persistence in your spiritual practice. We must trade the striving with the joy of learning and applying yourself to a new adventure that serves you

Here's a little story to illustrate the point, called "The Navigation Troll" by Adam Oakley

Amanda, Greg, and Richard are looking for the Feasting Tree...

“I’ve read about this something here that can take us wherever we want to go to, to the Feasting Tree, but we have to pay him a price,”  Amanda said. 

“Pay him in what?” Greg said.

“In memories. We have to give him one bad memory from our past, and he turns it into time.”

“He turns it into time?”

“Yes, and he uses the time to take you to where you want to go. The book that Bernard wrote, said that the time he turns it into is equivalent to the amount of time you would have spent dwelling on it if you had kept it inside of yourself.”

“I don’t have any bad memories,” Greg said.

“I bet you do,” said Amanda.

“Well, how do we get in contact with whoever this is?

“He’s the Navigation Troll. We have to walk into an area where we can all be in contact with each other, and each touch a separate tree at the same time. Then we have to give over our bad memories.”

Richard barely heard all this. He was listening to all the birds from above and hopping along the ground telling him that they should not go, that they should keep well away from where the Earthman went. The bird calls were gradually becoming harsher and more screechy.

“Calm the birds down now, will you Rich?” Greg said. But Richard could not hear him.

As they approached and an area with three thin, young trees, all very close to each other, Amanda said, “Hold my hand, Greg.” 

Greg reached out and touched Amanda's had and his heart leaped. Her hand made him feel ignited and alive, and he did not want to let go.

“Richard, join us” she said. Richard walked up, in a slight daze, and held her hand. 

“Now you two hold hands,” she said. Greg gradually raised his arm to grab hold of Richard’s open hand. 

“Now everyone touch a tree with their knee.” The three adjusted their legs to follow Amanda’s orders.

“Now, think of a memory, a bad memory, one that you don’t like to think about, but still lives inside of you. Then say out loud. ‘I give this memory to the Navigation Troll.’”

There was a pause, a silence. Then.... “I give this memory to the Navigation Troll,” Amanda said, with her eyes closed.

“I give this memory to the Navigation Troll,” Richard said, his eyes also still closed.

Greg said nothing, and then the earth began to rumble.

It was like an earthquake, the ground shaking and roaring from the inside like there was something bubbling up from the very depths of the Earth. Then, in the small space in the middle of the three, a long black-haired, fleshy, grumpy-looking face of a troll began to emerge; followed by a short, stocky body covered in a pair of dry, dirty shorts. The figure was shaking with the earth, eyes closed and not moving its limbs at all. Then its eyes opened. 

“You called?” the troll said, pulling out a little notepad and a pen from a pocket in his shorts.

The three of them broke their grip with each other as Amanda said to the troll, “Yes, we want you to take us to wherever the Feasting Tree lives.”

The troll looked up at Amanda with its very large eyes, permanent sneer, and scowling mouth and said, “Hmmm, what you ask is extremely dangerous, and very far indeed. That will cost you, dearly.”

“How much?”

The troll scribbled something on his pad and then said, “Well, by my calculations you just need a bit more.

“A bit more what, asked Amanda?

“Your memory was a good one. And the memory from this lad, here, was ok,” the troll pointed at Richard with his pen. “But I am yet to take either as I only take payment when all terms are agreed. This lad, has offered nothing. I still need a good, dark memory, from him. If he provides one, then I can take you to where you need to be.”

“I have no bad memories,” Greg said.

“Oh, but you do, lad, you do. What about when you were beaten up that time at school?”

Greg’s body stiffened up. “How did you know about that?”

“I can see it. It’s under your skin. It’s always there, isn’t it? It’s always with you.”

“Yeh, but I need it,” Greg said.

“How so?”

“It stops me from getting beat up again.”

“Does it now?”

“Yeh, because of that I started getting my brother to teach me how to fight.”

“Ah” said the troll, writing something down on his notepad. “So what you mean is that the event made you learn to fight and it brought you closer to your brother. Very good, but the memory of it, the darkness of it, the pain that still lives inside you, do you still need that? Do you still need to think about it in the same way? Do you still need to hold on to it? Do you really feel as if you are at peace with it, or does it give you nightmares, terrified of a fight happening again?”

“I’m not terrified,” Greg blurted out. He paused a moment. “But I don’t like it. I don’t like the feeling when it creeps up on me sometimes.”

“Then give it to me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to give it away. I want to keep it.”

“But why? Do you secretly enjoy it?”

Greg thought about it. Perhaps he did. Despite him not liking it, something inside him secretly enjoyed feeling victimized, hard-done-by, hurt, harmed by circumstances beyond his control. It was a strange, sick kind of enjoyment, a self-inflicted suffering that he was strangely addicted, seemed normal for him. “Maybe. Maybe I do like it,” he said defiantly.

“I see. Maybe it gives you a sense of self? Holding on to that memory, makes you feel like you really exist.”

“Yeh.”

“Aha, so do you still want it?”

Greg shyly said, “I feel vulnerable without it.”

“Yes, but do you still want it?”

Feeling agitated, Greg sputtered for a moment before screaming, “No, no I don’t. You have it. I don't want it anymore. I can't stand it anymore. Take it as payment.”

“Fantastic,” said the Troll! “So, that’s three traumatic memories that are yet to be healed, in return for a one-way transport to the home of the Feasting Tree. Correct?”

“Correct,” Amanda said.

“Right,” he said, making more notes. “Now, I can only take you so far, then you must walk the rest. You will be dropped off around six trees’ lengths away from your desired area. Then, I will point you in the right direction. All agreed?”

“Agreed,” they all said.

“Very good. Please place your hands on my hair.” The children were very reluctant to touch the troll's hair; it looked as if it had never been washed. But slowly, they reached out, knowing this was the right path to the Feasting Tree. Strangely, the troll’s hair felt soft and alive.

“Take a deep breath in,” the troll said. All three breathed in. “And let it go.” The three exhaled and began to feel their piece of darkness, which had been cunningly living within them for the longest time, travel out of their bodies and move into the hair of this troll. As the darkness transferred, the troll’s hair began to turn white, and their surroundings became blurred and the air made a high-pitched, whining noise. A moment later, everything around them started to shimmer as if the world was turning into liquids. Soon, the liquids began to evaporate into gases until the color drained out of the world and they were left in semi-darkness.  They became aware of a portal that the Navigation Troll was dragging them through, which seemed to bypass the normal rules of time. He was running, jumping, and panting, and even though it seemed as if they were traveling far, they all knew that the time passing was being condensed into just a few seconds. 

Suddenly, they stopped. It was still very dark at first, but soon light began to shine like the sunrise on a new day. “Here we are,” the troll said, “your destination. It is here you start on a new path. A path of adventure, clear of the memories that held you back. Go forward to the Feasting Tree, save your friend as you have yourself.” And so they did.

This stuff is not about lying on the couch waiting for the doorbell to chime or the phone to ring; fun and possible as it might be to open the door or answer the call and find your soulmate with a bag of money and the keys to your new car and house, It's about being ready for the next thing, which is the original thing - it's about leaning into Creation and trusting your connection and communion with It. The Universe has your back and can guide you. Trust your intuition. Your emotions are indications of how aligned you are and not something to be fixed or afraid of. They are something you can re-tune and to be at-one with the Divine. This is subtle and deep stuff being in at-one-ment with the Divine within. Like Yoga and Pilates, small moves with great form ignite deep and huge improvements, transformation, and transcendence.

You are the tailor of the cloth your wear. You are the chooser and the receiver of the vibration you connect with and amplify. Choose to give attention to what it is you want. Choose loving, constructive ideas and choose to follow your inner positive nudges without second-guessing or telling yourself right away why you can't do what just occurred to you. 

An inner-oriented life is like sitting in the eye of the storm, placing yourself in the low barometric calm for decision making and action taking while moving past trauma, manifesting peace and calm, and waiting out the tempest around you. The more you're in sync with all that you are, the more you allow yourself to connect with things that manifest ease in your life.

What is the Nike way? 

Just do it:

Don't wait till you've got all the steps down or you have the most clever words to say or until it's not noisy or you are centered.

Just do it:

Affirm your good, state your intention, connect with the Power within, bring passion, clarity, heart and soul, and as much game as you got right now. Tell the Universe what you require in your life today.

Just do it:

Be grateful in your prayers, contemplations, meditations, thoughts, feelings, and actions. The Divine Power, Intelligence, Love, Light, Beauty, and Wisdom is within you right here and right now to dance, play, support, and manifest your greatest good!

God does not love us because we are good; God loves us because God is good. Nothing we can do will either decrease or increase God’s eternal and infinite eagerness to love!    ~Richard Rohr

You just need to show up and live the Nike Way.

Just do it....right now!

Affirmative Incantation

Today, I befriend myself: 

I support my purpose and my desires, I look after and protect my inner child, and uphold the integrity, honesty, courage, loyalty, fortitude, kindness, and dignity of a person of great character.

I take the risks I must to clear the cobwebs, let go of the limitations and fears, and step up to my Best Self. Anything that requires cleansing, illumination, or repair, I boldly and bravely do so with ease and grace. I do not criticize, I optimize.

I unabashedly and whole-heartedly declare my dreams manifested with the havingness of having them and surrender to the power in me to bring them to fruition. I sing out “Olly, Olly oxen free” declaring the Divine within to emerge with all its love, Light, beauty, and wisdom; guiding me to be the best friend my life has ever had.

I am grateful for my ease in this task, my peace of mind in this charge, and my assuredness in this mission. Success is ours, my friend!

Dedicate and Lubricate

To manifest stuff into our lives, we dedicate our thoughts and feelings about our desires into the Universe and then we lubricate the movement of these thoughts and feelings from desire to acquire, by using the energy of faith and belief. This energy is found in the holistic use of the Divine Matrix, the bio-electric mechanics and connection of the brain, heart, and gut.

Thoughts cause biochemical reactions in your brain that release chemical signals which make your body feel a certain way depending on your thoughts, and those feelings cause you to generate more thoughts that produce the same feelings and thus the same bodily reactions. 

      ~Dr. Joe Dispenza

And simultaneously makes the mental equivalent, which is the frequency the Universe reads to bring it into form. The energy centers of the body including the heart and gut come into play; stimulating the endocrine system (a collection of glands that produce hormones to regulate metabolism, sleep, mood, etc.).

This month talking about living a consecrated life. A life which prepares us to lock into the frequency Einstein and Tesla speak about to manifest, by:

1) Communing with nature and the Divine Presence

God is the Source of all that is and is all that is. Everything in the Universe is made of God-stuff, making each of us a unique, individualized expression of It. In this Oneness, this community, we each share our time, talent and treasure.

2) Taking heed to the constant call of the Divine urge

We do so by listening and watching for the subtle Universal cues and using the constructive versus destructive query to determine if it's from the ego, fear, or the higher self. Hint - we want to listen only to those which are constructive and coming from our higher self.

3) You dedicate your most sacred self to living the highest life

...the ultimate goal of life is complete emancipation from all discord of every nature.    ~Ernest Holmes

You can do so by:

                    a) nourishing yourself with healthful food, positive/loving/prosperous ideas, thoughts, and feelings

                    b) taking wise, bold, and optimized strategies of action

c) quieting the chattering mind with thankful attention, questioning push-back, and self-parenting

d) laughing and loving in general

e) clearing the corrosion of the mind & healing the ego-driven thoughts in the mind with meditation

f) activating the flow of Universal Abundance  through affirmative prayer or spiritual mind treatment

g) filling your consciousness with healthy and wise readings or being here 

h) practicing radical forgiveness to all, for all – especially yourself – in other words, “get over it Blanche”

i) getting your butt in nature, getting your toes in the sand, and your bare feet touching Mother Earth

Now you may come back to me with, “But what about all that's going on now or during other times of crisis, stress or trauma; something that turns my world upside down like a cyclone?” Good question!

As human beings, we have free will and can choose how we relate to what we experience, whether it be positive or negative. The same Principle that brings us freedom, prosperity, and joy also allows us to experience bondage, lack, or misery, according to our consciousness. ~Science of Mind

Free will, volition, choice in what we think and do. Makes you want to sing that great old hymn:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me

Remember, this is not about claiming to be a wretched person, but a person with wretched thoughts around wretched conditions making wretched choices and actions.

Even on special occasions, like now, living the high life is essential. We are to never compromise the Divine Principle of life:  the Divine is within and the power of creation is shared by our perspective on life and beliefs in ourselves, no matter the circumstances. As the Tom Waits song says:

That diamond, based on a Buddhist principle, is described by Mila Diamond (she has a diamond in her mind and name):

We all have a seed of diamond mind ... a state of heightened clarity, alertness and complete congruity. When you are in that state, you find yourself in the right place at the right time, with the right people, noticing the right opportunities and finding genius solutions. The right path unfolds before you. You feel empowered. … Like a perfectly cut diamond, it is luminous and strong. 

As co-creators with the Universe, what we deeply believe and what we claim for ourselves and for the world has an impact. An impact on our minds, actions, thoughts, feelings and experiences.

It seems to me that it is only as we view all life, everything from what we call great to what we call small, important or unimportant—it is only as we view the whole thing as “one stupendous whole, whose body nature is with God the soul” that we shall really enter into communion, into sympathetic oneness and rapport, with the reality of all that is about us.                               ~Ernest Holmes 

Every time we face adversity or are enjoying the riches of life, remember your own worth and value. Steel your mind against the onslaught no matter how dire the circumstance and treasure this thing called life by always having a diamond in your mind.

Without inner change there can be no outer change. Without collective change, no change matters.  ~angel Kyodo williams, Zen Priest

Conclusion and Call to Action: 

To lubricate the way to revealing our Divinity, vibrating at the speed of the Divine and busting through to soar and zoom into the best time of our lives, no matter the condition; let us have a baptism of words and feelings and take vows of consecration. These promises, and the words and rituals that surround them, speak to a perfect aligning with the Universe. Those who are baptized may still have doubts and those who have taken Buddhist-like vows must still resist suffering. These are not usually "one and done" magic tricks or miracles that once acted on never need to be thought of again; they are meant to be returned to as a way of life. 

Anyone can ask and anyone can bless, whether anyone has authorized you to do it or not. All I am saying is that the world needs you to do this, because there is a real shortage of people willing to kneel wherever they are and recognize the holiness; holding its sometimes bony, often tender, always life-giving hand above their heads. That we are able to bless one another at all is evidence that we have been blessed, whether we can remember when or not. That we are willing to bless one another is miracle enough to stagger the very stars.  ~Barbara Brown Taylor, Episcopal priest, professor, author, theologian, and a 2014 TIME magazine 100 list of most influential people in the world

There is always a glimmer of light available. Fill up your spiritual bank with constant highest-self deposits. When you dedicate your thoughts and feelings to that which you desire and then lubricate the movement of these thoughts and feelings from desire to acquire, by using the energy of faith and belief; when you remember who you are, you always having a diamond in your mind. That makes your mind full of faith, with the highest hardness and thermal-powered manifesting conductivity of any material, with an unsurpassed cutting in of optimized beliefs and the polishing of those beliefs into a beacon of attraction.

You will find yourself living a consecrated, happy, joyous, prosperous, healthy, creative, and loving life...no matter the circumstances!

Affirmative Incantation

I Am part of a community that celebrates diversity in the world, fosters the inclusion of everyone, champions the inner work and journey of anybody, and creates space for brave, vulnerable conversations. Honoring the unique emanation of Divinity that each person embodies, I advocate for human rights and dignity for all.

Understanding that Oneness is not about Sameness or Otherness, I know it is revealed when we love each other well, get into good trouble when we must together, and consecrate this Beloved Community at all times with peace, prosperity and ease. I remain an active learner and a listener so that we can all grow together. I bless all people in their holy journey to bust through, soar and zoom into their greatest life. 

Like all, I am a unique expression of Spirit:  consecrated, educated, dedicated, and oxygenated to create a life the way I want it right here and now!

COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES

 In the far reaches of an infinite cosmos, there’s a galaxy that looks just like the Milky Way, with a solar system that’s the spitting image of ours, with a planet that’s a dead ringer for earth, with a house that’s indistinguishable from yours, inhabited by someone who looks just like you, who is right now reading this very book and imagining you, in a distant galaxy, just reaching the end of this sentence. And there’s not just one such copy. In an infinite universe, there are infinitely many. In some, your doppelgänger is now reading this sentence, along with you. In others, he or she has skipped ahead, or feels in need of a snack and has put the book down. In others still, he or she has, well, a less than felicitous disposition and is someone you’d rather not meet in a dark alley.   ~Brian Greene, "The Hidden Reality"

Explosive idea, eh? Makes my head spin. That's some coloring outside the lines of imagination. However, this is where science is taking us.

When we were very young, usually before 1st grade, we all colored outside the lines; it's a part of childhood development - the scribbling. Then seemingly overnight, the master of scribbling hands the parent a piece of artwork that shows she’s tried to color inside the lines. It’s a big moment when one will do the proud parent dance as they tape the picture to the fridge.

That switch in coloring skills is a milestone for children because it shows that their motor skills and cognitive skills are developing.  ~Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., assoc prof of psychology, Fordham University

And Denise Bodman, Ph.D., a principal lecturer at the T. Denny Sanford School of Social & Family Dynamics of Arizona State University tell us:

As children become aware of boundaries, they start thinking and planning around them. Soon, she may color with an understanding of spatial vocabulary such as “above,” “below,” and “between.” When children start coloring inside the lines, they’re learning about cause and effect.

Coloring within the lines is tapping into self-control and confidence with a level of focus and concentration that helps us master many other tasks, fostering confidence.

All that is great in the development of a child or as a newbie to a skill, industry, practice, or purpose. Staying within the lines, following a systematic regimen and order has its value, of course, but it shouldn't be the only message a person gets. It's time to allow thinking beyond the boundaries – without the restraints. To think creatively, behave in an unconventional manner, and to not follow the rules.

Don't get me wrong, you can create some imaginative things within the lines. However, expanding beyond them is like exploring the multi-verse of your mind. Where would computers / the internet be without non-linear thinkers:

• Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, an 1800's English mathematician, worked on the Analytical Engine, and considered a computer programmer, even before computers were a thing
• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple
• Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn – fathers of the internet

Imagine science without...

• Einstein, Newton, Nikola Tesla, Galileo
• Marie Curie and her work with radium
• Rosalind Franklin's work in describing and assisting the discovery of  DNA’s double-helix structure

Where would philosophy be without...

• Plato and Aristotle
• Conscious, the Buddha and Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching)
• John Locke, who inspired our Founding Fathers with the ideas of a social contract
• Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ernest Holmes

Where would entertainment and literature be without “outside of the lines color-ers” like...

• Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph of Netflix
• Walt Disney and Stan Lee
• Marlon Brando, Uta Hagen, or Stanislavsky in the acting field
• Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe (who many consider the first sci-fi author) or Shakespeare

How about innovations in the painting world without

• Picasso's "Guernica" in 1937
• Manet or Monet or Van Gogh
• Jackson Pollacks "Blue Holes Number 11" in 1952
• DaVinci's "Mona Lisa" in 1503
• Salvador Dali, Warhol, Klimt, Vermeer, Kahlo

Innovations in music without...

• Bach's harmonics
• Debussy's creation of mood and imagery
• Gershwin's pop music mix of orchestral and jazz
• Hildegard Von Bingen, Beethoven, the Beatles

Or the working space culture of Google and Zappos; their employee perks of free food, complementary wellness services, basketball courts, bring your dog to work, and other things changed the idea of creativity and work.

What did they all see outside the lines? Opportunities, innovation, change, the infinite... and love!!!!

Here's a "think outside the box question" some of you might have gotten at a job interview:

You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night, it's raining heavily.

You pass by a bus stop and you see three people waiting for a bus:

The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.

An old friend who once saved your life.

An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.

You have only one seat in your car. Which one would you choose to offer a ride to?

Do you pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first?

Or do you take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back?

However, if you do all that, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.

Think about it. It's a moral and ethical dilemma, but a decision must be made. Save a life? make a repayment for your saved life? or get that perfect partner?

The usual clever, imaginative, thinking out of the box answer is:

I would give the car keys to my old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital.

And I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams.

There's no best answer...you could use your cell phone to call for help. But, it's designed to make you think, and that's what all this is about - what you think and how you think it.

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. ~Arthur C. Clarke

It's the what if? Envisioning...strengthens the mind, strengthens the intention, and strengthens our relation to any condition as one that will be overcome, changed, adapted, or healed.

Dr. Joe Dispenza reminds us that the brain doesn't know the difference between a real-life event and imagining it, so keeping it up will prepare the perception nodule, like a software program in the hardware - brain. 

You are the programmer, the language is your imagination, thoughts, and feelings, and practice and commitment change your relation to conditions. It's an energy that colors you outside the lines of all that stuff that gets in our way.

Our whole endeavor is to personalize the impersonal, that is, to individualize the Creative Spirit. While we cannot think of God as an infinite person, that is, as a being with any limitation whatsoever, we should think of the Creative Spirit as that Infinite Being in whom all personality is rooted. Thus, each is continuously individualizing God, and thus, also, each is individually using the Law of Cause and Effect. ~Ernest Holmes, "Lessons in Spiritual Mind Healing"

Following the steps or those "twice a day" suggestions are good, but eventually, you must make it your own in order for it to take hold in your subconscious and belief system.

You may cry our, “I'm not clever or imaginative or creative or..." But I would say back to you, "uh-uh, that's a bunch of bull, we all are!"

I am not asking you to change the world, just change the time, place, length, frequency, words in your spiritual practice. Play and find out what works best for you to reveal the Divinity in You, so you can 
vibrate at the speed of the Divine, and bust through, soar and zoom to your best experiences.

Alan Kay (the husband of author Bonnie MacBird) famously said “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

Color outside the lines of logic, religion, spirituality, this philosophy, what you've learned about spiritual practice....everything, and make your Universe a multi-verse of possibilities; making the seemingly impossible possible!

Affirmative Incantation
I see wonderfully colorful and mystical variances being uniquely expressed in each of us. And I am no exception. In Nature's great creative diversity, I am a bold, brave, loving, successful and productive example. I am seen, respected and heard by all. I take myself in my very capable hands to share my time, talent and treasures with the world. My intuition guides me to wise, wondrous and mystical ways and I play with an inventive, vibrant and enlightened palate. Whatever happens, I know I can handle it with grace and ease.

Allies With The Universe

Most people consider life a battle, but it is not a battle, it is a game. ~ Florence Scovel Shinn

That is how “The Game of Life and How To Play It” begins. The game of life has rules, challenges and interaction. There are skills to be had, exercises and movements to make, and educational and psychological roles to take on.

We play this game of life alone and as a group. All are professionals and artists in this game, with remunerations to collect, creative expression to fulfill, and imaginative beauty to behold. You may ask:

What are the rules of the game of life and do I have allies in this game?

Am I truly alone in this game?

Who or what am I interacting with? my opponent?

What cards should I play, moves should I make?


Let's answer those questions:

1) Who's the player and who's the opponent?  You.

Don't freak out.  You are perfect right now, as you are. There is nothing that needs to be changed or any test to past nor anguish you must endure to make you more deserving of winning the abundance of life.
There are skills to perfect and use, but you have them all. Choice!

At once, a great responsibility and a great power, choice gives all of us the power to decide, change our minds, then decide again about how we want to perceive and live our lives. We are free to see it our way for our lives with the Universe aligning Itself with us as we believe.

The main thing to remember, as Dr. David Walker titled his book, "You Are Enough."

Here is some "Constructive Self Talk," an affirmation you can use from Dr. Walker's book to concretize that in your consciousness:

I am enough. I am more important than anything I will ever accomplish, for I am the sacred presence of life. It is with my enough-ness that I now cause my life to look the way I want it to look.

2) What are the rules? It's pretty simple:

• declare what you want
• focus on what you want
• imagine that what you want is in all ways, through all of your sense, present
• be grateful for what you want as if you've already received it
• take confident action expressing what you want (this isn't just mental work)

We must decide if we are going to live by the Principle or Precedent. The Game of Principle tells us what we think, speak, practice, and serve shows up in the experience we roll (remember this is a game). The only precedent to be mindful of, is the Principle that we are divine spiritual beings having a human experience, undivided from God and a vessel for change, love, infinite possibilities and for good.

3) What moves should I make, cards should I play? Spirituality and mindfulness.

Many think that spirituality is not taking action. It's too heart-centered, too head-centered, impractical - even superstitious. However, done holistically, full-bodied, bold, succulent, with strong intention and feeling; it's none of those things. You can't be too heart-centered if you are also too head-centered. They can balance each other to great thinking and manifesting. You can't be too practical if you listen to your intuition, for that informs that which is to become a practical exercise. You can't be too logical, if you include imagination as you visualize your purpose.

You have all the game pieces you require:

• meditation, prayer and chanting
• visioning
• yoga and communing with nature
• Radical Forgiveness and the ho'oponopono

Just as a chess player doesn't usually win the championship on day one of their practice, nor can one usually just flip a switch to enlightenment (it can happen, but usually doesn't). With practice we find the tournament easier and easier until it becomes our nature and serious fun; so too this thing called enlightenment.

What you can do too much of is wish or hope, try or attempt. If your sad ole story never changes, neither will your sad ole life. We must move from the land of hope and wish to the land of make believe and manifestation which turns into belief, which turns into experience.

Irrigators channel waters; fletchers straighten arrows; carpenters shape wood; the wise master themselves.   ~Buddha, Dhammapada, verse 80

4) Is this a game of Solitaire, this Game of Life? Simple answer is no.

In the Infinite Nature of God, all conceivable Good is eternally available, ready to flow into human experience.

Nature relentlessly whispers:  I am here for YOU. ~Gordana Biernat

Every hunch, intuited word or idea is your ally. If it is constructive, peaceful and loving, it is the Universe speaking, teaching and guiding you; giving you a lead for the receipt of a bonus card or a prosperous move in this game of life.

Yo might remember the story I tell about going into ministry. How it took me two weeks after the rest of my class began, to decide to join the 2 year training (took five years of training to get to be eligible for the two year ministerial training). In the 24 hours I was given after the final invitation to join the class was in progress,. I went to see the movie, "Angeles and Demons." During the closing credits, alone in this theatre, tears flowing down my cheeks, my eyes closed, I heard, "Do It." No, it wasn't a Nike commercial running on the movie screen, it was the answer to the question I was pondering that day. Well over ten years now, I decided to watch the movie again. I was wondering what could have been the influence, if any, the movie had in this "voice" of decision. When this dialogue was spoken near the end of the film, the tears returned. A memory perhaps of influence?

Cardinal Strauss:  Mr. Langdon, thanks be to God for sending someone to protect this church.

Prof Langdon:  I don't believe He sent me, Father

Cardinal Strauss:  Oh my son, of course He did.

I never really remembered why I was so effected by this movie, but that small bit of dialogue hit me hard. A memory, a hunch, an intuition, a Divine nudge showed up, the Universe supporting my next game!

It is God's will to give every man, every righteous desire of his heart, and man's will should be used to hold the perfect vision, without wavering. ....when man takes his spiritual stand, he collects all that is his from this great Reservoir of Good.                                                              ~Florence Scovel Shinn

The Universe is ever conspiring for our highest good. With that knowledge, we can play the game fearlessly, seeing Divine Love flowing in every roll and every play, moving us towards our very best.

A Conclusion and Call to Action

When you're truly compelled to make a difference and move beyond business as usual, you become capable of creating and achieving miraculous results. Too often we allow ourselves to be limited in our thinking:  “That's the way it's always been, so that's the way it will always be.”     ~Rick Tamlyn, "Play Your Bigger Game"

You have an ally in the Universe. It's the Love and the Law of Cause and Effect. How can it be a loving law? Because it comes from the same source. For every action there is an equal reaction and for every experience you have, there is a mental equivalent that preceded it. That is the law and it is powered by a loving Presence, an energy this is unconditional and infinite. 

In "The Game of Life and How To Play It," Shinn writes an affirmation that goes like this:

Infinite Spirit, open the way for the Divine Design of my life to manifest; let the genius within me now be released; let me see clearly the perfect plan.

Start today to play your game of life. 

     The rules are simple, the opponent easy to beat.

     The ally always present and in your corner.

It is not a game of blame, but of responsibility.

It is not a game of shame, but of dignity.

It is not a game of guilt, but of infinite possibilities.

It is not a game of woe, but of wow, love, life, 

Light and wisdom. 

For the gamer that is in you, I give you this explanation:

● It is a Candy Land of sweet Spiritual support where any Clue you need is available

● A game where you always have a Monopoly on your thoughts, feelings and beliefs

● The knowledge is at your feet to un-Scrabble the richest words

● There's no Battleship to fight or reason to put your body in a Twister of positions

● There is no Risk in playing or reason to feel Boggle-d, as the Universe is your ally

● The more you use the wisdom of your ally, the least amount of time you will have to say or feel Sorry

● Your Cranium, heart and gut, the Divine Matrix, will keep you out of Trouble

● You are in control of the Operation

● There will never be Angry Birds or Dungeons and Dragons in your way

● With the Universe on your side and the Law providing you Apples to Apples, you will never have a  Trivial Pursuit or pull any Cards Against Humanity

● Your Call of Duty is to have some serious fun

● With all this going on, you will shout “Yahtzee” every day

Are you ready?

Take the first roll!

Make the first move!

And let's get this fabulous, succulent, opulent, love-filled game going!




Affirmation
I recognize the Infinite that lives and expresses Its Divine nature in me, as me and through me.
I see Its Power, feel Its Love, hear Its Wisdom and am consistently guided by Its Light.
My way is through the heart-flow of Divine Intelligence and schooled by the Universal source and substance of all life.
I step joyously into my most prosperous adventure as I walk this talk, herd my Word and attract all that I now claim as mine today.