Where Are You Looking From?

 I want to start out with two questions:

What does living a life of curiosity every day look like whether things are going smoothly or not?

How do you differentiate between your personal biased agenda and that of Spirit?

Centers for Spiritual Living's Global Vision states:

We see a world in which every person lives in alignment with their highest spiritual principle, emphasizing unity with God and connection with each other; a world in which individually and collectively we are called to a higher state of consciousness and action.

Where do we see that world from, though? Well, it all depends on where you are looking from ....or is it through?

Is it from the five senses?

Sight, sound, taste, smell, touch? Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or skin?

Our brain?

The seat of the intellect, language, cognition, consciousness, creativity, logic, and knowledge? Where the electrochemical workings of 86 billion neurons and their synapses fire, and recognize, give meaning, and create narratives?

Most have the brain/head thing down, pronouncing to the world things like:

"I think...”

        “I understand...”

“I declare this in my life!”

“I reveal that in my life!”

Maybe the answers are in our hearts? 

That's the first organ that reveals itself in the body's development. It's not merely a muscle to pump blood, it has a complex intrinsic nervous system of over 40,000 sensory neurites firing off independently from those in the brain. The heart has been labeled by researchers in neurocardiology (defined by BH Nattelson as "the study of the neurophysiological, neuro- logical, and neuroanatomical aspects of cardiology, including especially the neurological origins of cardiac disorders") as a functional “brain.” This "brain" can learn independently, have its own memories, and feel and sense information. It also creates an energetic field to tell our brains whether we feel safe or not and acts as a regulator of our perceptions. 

We can think, pray or speak words until we are blue in the face and not a thing will manifest, at least not in the clearest way, unless we have feeling behind it. While we admire the intellect, we must realize that the intellect is not the creative factor in the Universe. Rather, it is feeling that is creative.   ~Ernest Homes 

As Neville wrote in his book, Feeling is the Secret:

Ideas are impressed on the subconscious through the medium of feeling. No idea can be impressed on the subconscious until it is felt, but once felt –be it good, bad or indifferent- it must be expressed. Feeling is the one and only medium through which ideas are conveyed to the subconscious.

Well, now we have got the heart-brain connecting. Is that the ticket on where we are looking from?

Maybe the answers are actually in our gut?

The enteric nervous system (ENS) consists of sheaths of neurons embedded in the walls of our gut. From the esophagus to the anus, the gut contains some 100 million neurons, more than in the spinal cord or the peripheral nervous system.  It uses more than 30 neurotransmitters, just like the brain, and carries 95% of the body's serotonin and other hormones and neurotransmitters that regulate mood, appetite, sleep, memory, and sexual desire and function. The vagus nerve carries information from the gut to the brain - mostly one way....up. But, as smart as it might sound, the ENS can’t balance your checkbook or compose a symphony, it mostly controls digestion from swallowing to the release of enzymes to break down food to the control of blood flow for nutrient absorption to elimination. However, the gut also controls self-preservation and mobilization and responds to challenges, opposition, and danger. It also helps determine our core sense of self through its reactions to our thoughts. The seat of inspiration seems to speak from there. Notice how in life we use phrases like:

“It takes guts to...” 

                         “My gut tells me...”

Some have the gut stuff/intuition thing going. The thoughts, feelings, and intuitive messages analyzed by the gut awaken us to a direct infusion of Divine Wisdom. But which one is fueling the life of curiosity from day-to-day, understanding, analyzing, and solving whether things are going smoothly? Which one is discerning between your biases, perceptions, and opinions and that of the wisdom of Spirit? What is driving your desires, revelations, and communing with the Universe? Is it ego or Spirit? 

When we Edge God Out, our ego’s desires can come from a place of scarcity, lack or fear, and the insatiable desire for more (which is a hint to a belief in scarcity), or to prove a sense of self-worth. When we are Entertaining God Only, Spirit’s call is one of Wholeness, Oneness, Infinite possibilities, Creativity, Freedom, and Truth. We are taking cues from the Infinite Wisdom of the Universe, beyond time and space. The spiritual practices of visioning, affirmative prayer (Spiritual Mind Treatment), and meditation assist us in letting go of those personal agendas which ultimately just get in our way or slow us down, and align with Divine Intelligence to experience a life of flow and ease, and manifesting our desires for ourselves and the world. That includes manifesting ideas, solutions, intuitions, as well as stuff.

As individualized expressions of the One Universal Energy, we have access to the infinite wisdom and intelligence of all space and time. It flows through us, as us, and for us as an individualized expression of this energy. However, it only does so to the degree that we set our previous ideas aside and tune in to its frequency, awakening to the impress of Universal Spirit. This direct revelation is available to us through our intuition, intelligence, and feelings working together; which places us smack in the middle of Heaven - the state of awareness of our True Nature.

Though we experience our True Nature to the degree we become conscious of it, we can use our built-in toolbox, the Divine Matrix, to be where we are looking from. The Divine Matrix is a structure that combines the simultaneous use of the Cephalic (head), cardiac (heart), and enteric (gut) systems. When we are looking from The Divine Matrix, the head, heart, and gut brains are communicating with each other, sussing up the situation as a unit, and coming up with the solutions as an integrated system of our consciousness, values, and beliefs. The Mind is an ever-expansive individualized essence of Universal Energy. This is how we experience life to the fullest.  And in doing so, we habitually, and as second-nature (though actually, it's our original-nature) we answer all instances, experiences, conditions, happenings, etc. with:

What is Spirit's Highest Idea of Itself in this moment?

Yes, the question and the answer in one sentence: What is Spirit’s Highest Idea of Itself in this moment, this situation? Living in this question invites us to listen to and from a different place, beyond the egoistic mind to that connection with the Universal Presence Mind, which is seeking to express in, as, and through us. 

Sometimes we require adjustments and repairs to our systems. Maybe our state of mind/being or belief is off-kilter and the following are not showing up:

• love for life
• joy for existence
• motivation to be alive
• state of gratitude

In essence, then, we are not in the groove of our Godness.

So, what do we do?

Ask questions to our most inner self. Questions open us to something new. Questions invite curiosity as a way of being. Questions break us away from what we think we know and desire and invites something greater within to guide us. It's time to re-awaken our heart intelligence and connect it to our brain intelligence, and simultaneously be open and ready for intuitive intelligence. As Ramana Maharshi (Hindu sage, early-mid 20thC) reminds us: 

...when the mind stays in the Heart, the ‘I’ which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self which ever exists will shine. 

There is a Cherokee word - ‘shante ishta’.  It means "the single eye of the heart," the single eye that sees what’s true, without judgment. Here's a spiritual practice that will put you on a direct path to heart-brain harmony, celebrating the shante ishta and awakening the intuited wisdom:

1. Close your eyes

It brings your awareness within

2. Put your hand on your heart!

  The heart is at the center of the body, the center chakra or energy point in your body. It is the gateway to an Intelligence both harmonious and holistic. And the touch brings a powerful awareness to this gateway.

3. Now be aware of your breathing and allow it to slow down

  Count 5 secs in through your nose and 5 secs out from your mouth. Do this a few times to get used to that rhythm. Allow it to take root in the cadence of your breath. This signals to the body that you are safe, freeing you from any stresses and opening the body and brain to healing.

4. Think or imagine someone or something that you care about, appreciate, or have gratitude or compassion for.

     Allow yourself to feel it. It could be for any person, this community, your puppy, something you received, or an insight you had.

Care, Appreciation, Gratitude, or Compassion!

This spiritual practice connects all three brains - the intuition from the gut, the feelings and intelligence of the heart, and the logic and knowledge of the brain. It harmonizes them for optimal decision making, creative discovery, learning, transcending, and manifesting. It gives one resilience in this ever-changing and too often turbulent world, inspiring one from the chaotic to the cosmos, and releasing one from the unformed destructive whirling dervishes to the lovingly controlled constructive creation. This practice also releases 1300 biochemical reactions that promote immunity and anti-aging.

Another way to bring the Divine Matrix in line is with what I call an Affirmative Incantation. An A. I. is similar to an affirmation, but is more thorough and goes deeper. Taking a logical and heartfelt path to your best self, it is a formula for consciously transcending success. It is alchemistic versus the repeated one or two-sentence affirmation which too often becomes a mish-mash of words that lose their power and begin to sound like the teacher from the Charlie Brown comics - "wah-wah-wah-wah-waaaah."

Here is an affirmative incantation for you to use right now: 

In this moment, I recognize that my life is the embodiment of Spirit’s highest idea of Itself as me. I see my Highest Self as my daily self, embodying every thought, feeling, and belief with the inspiration, love, and intelligence of the Universal Presence.

In an abundance of affluence:

I seek and I find.

I sow and I reap.

I discover and I engage.

I reveal and I utilize.

I Am experiencing my life through the best ideas in health, wealth, relationships, and creativity to bust through, soar, and zoom into a fabulous day.

Let us remember that there is only One Power and Presence, the One Source back of all things. And knowing there is only One Life, this Life must be who I am; who you are. Therefore each of us has the ability to allow the Infinite Wisdom of this Power and Presence to express through them, by living in the question: “What is Spirit’s highest vision of Itself as me in this moment?”

Living from a place of curiosity, and remaining open and willing to receive Spirit’s highest vision of Itself expressing through any situation in our lives, allows us to live and act from a place of Divine Guidance in order to create our Heaven, right here and now. 

• Are you willing to be surprised by what you discover about yourself?
• Everything is for our learning and growth, are you open? 
• Are you willing to be more interested in your spiritual growth than advocating for your limitations? 

We learn through curiosity. Remaining open to experience a shift of perspective, a new awareness, and a heightened experience of life is the key to an abundance of prosperity in all parts of our life.

Are you willing?

Going With the Flow

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius encouraged people not to waste energy by fighting against society. He called it..."Going with the flow." Now, going with the flow has come to mean having a relaxed attitude, letting life carry you along. After all - “what you resist persists,” right?

I've been described as someone who goes with the flow; easy-going, keeping my neutrality in conflicts. Yet I have found that the practice of going with the flow can also lead to laziness or playing the spiritual bypass game or having a reluctance to taking life seriously or deeply or by the collar, when necessary.

Today, I want to about the power and depth in going with the flow in a spiritually conscious & mindful way by going with the flow on the River of the Divine You. 

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.  ~Lao-Tzu

Going with the flow doesn't have to be a cop-out, accepting life's lemons as the end of the story. You and I create the flow by getting in the Flow on the River of Love and Law. It may not be all peaches and cream and may involve some tough relaxing into the chaos, learning not to stress, and responding versus reacting. The main action behind going with the flow is not just laying back, it's taking hold of the consciousness cord that connects us to the Power of Manifestation where we can get guidance. We cannot practice the love of life in isolation or in a vacuum. Every spiritual path and all the mystics have described that each of us in nature is connected to that single Divine River where the wellspring of infinite possibilities flows. 

Within this Infinite Mind, each individual exists. We are not separated from Life, and neither is It separated from us. We are separate entities in It — individualized centers of God Consciousness.  ~Dr. Holmes, The Science of Mind

When we awaken to the Truth, we become open to the impulse & guidance of Spirit, inspired by imagination and wisdom, directed by our values, committed to our core principles, and dedicated to transformation and transcendence - no matter the circumstances. Leo Babauta, in the blog, Zen Habits, says:

No matter how much structure we create in our lives, no matter how many good habits we build, there will always be things that we cannot control — and if we let them, these things can be a huge source of anger, frustration, and stress. 

This conflict or condition has already happened; we can't go back to make it not have happened at least not yet. So what do we do when we step in it when junk shows up in our lives - big or small? I had a kidney stone journey in 2013:

4 days of cramps

4 days of feeling like Sisyphus...invoking powerful names = Jesus, Iron Man ...and phrases I cannot repeat...jumping up and down to rattle the stone around and break it up. I noticed the usual go with the flow idea went out of my mind as quickly as the cursing came out of my mouth. Then I became focused on not resolving the pain but remembering who I was. I had plenty of moments of health worries, possible financial concerns, and just the agonizing pain but it was my consciousness work that brought relief. 

Kamal Ravikant wrote:

Most of our pain, most of our suffering comes

from resistance to what Life is. And when we

resist what life is, we suffer. When you can say

yes to life, surrender to life and say: “Okay, what

should I be now?” That’s where power comes from.

There is a story about a young martial arts student was under the tutelage of a famous master. One day, the master was watching a practice session in the courtyard.

He realized that the presence of the other students was interfering with the young man’s attempts to perfect his technique. The master could sense the young man’s frustration. He went up to the young man and tapped him on his shoulder. “What’s the problem?” he inquired.

“I don’t know,” said the youth with a strained expression. “No matter how much I try, I am unable to execute the moves properly”.

“Before you can master technique, you must understand harmony, my son. Come with me, I will explain,” replied the master.

The teacher and student left the building and walked some distance into the woods until they came upon a stream. The master stood silently on the bank for several moments before he said, “Look at the stream. There are rocks in its way. Does it slam into them out of frustration? Watch it simply flow over and around them and move on! Be like the water and you will know what harmony is.”

Whether its COVID or a broken pipe, don’t dig in your heels, push, shove, and struggle until the veins pop out on your head. Stop saying no. Say yes and accept whatever it is.

Now the act of accepting doesn't mean giving permission ...accepting lets us stop thinking we must swim upstream or wish we could go back in time somehow ...accepting turns the dial to tune into and allow the nourishing Flow of the River of Divine Intelligence to carry us over and around the rocks. Here are a few daily practice tips from Bev Janisch:

1. Learn to distinguish between thoughts and feelings that arise from the condition or event – is it

bringing in your small self or your [highest self]?

2. Ask yourself: What is my heart’s desire? What inspired action arising from my soul am I meant to

take today or in this situation?

3. Create a daily habit of communicating with Source through meditation, prayer or “divine chats.”

Going with the Flow is about creating awareness, space, and practices that enable us to tune in to what Divine wisdom is intuiting and then honoring what we hear.

• Commit to participating in the awakening of your spiritual magnificence and personal power

• Commit to catching the spark of Divine ideas

You may be in pain or in fear of a prognosis or consequence, uncomfortable with making some changes in your habits of thought and action. It may be messy, chaotic, sad, or dirty, but as we understand that any yuckiness is the perfect outcome of the flow of the river of life we decided to float upon, we become open to and ready for the ideas, practices, & solutions to incorporate into our boat. Going with the flow doesn't mean you just sit there, hoping to become dislodged. By going with the Flow using your spiritual tools, you will rise up from the hurricane of discomfort. So go ahead and rage and weep for a few minutes, then take a breath and tap into the River of Divine Wisdom and allow your intuition to inform you of your options and find your best practices from a place of “yes” and acceptance. There is beauty in everything around us if we look at it as perfect.

Go with the flow of your life

Go with the flow of your community

Go with the flow of your health

Go with the flow of this time of COVID

Go with the flow of your relationships

It doesn't mean you don't take action. It means you go with the flow on the River of Divine Intelligence and Love to take action with the wisdom of the ages, the power of the mighty Mississippi, the best advice available from the Universe and Its creations.

Affirmative Incantation

I am stepping into the Circle of Love which surrounds me with ever-expanding energy that vibrates at the speed

of the Divine, awakening me to my best self.

In this Circle of Love, I lift up my mind to the highest thoughts and ideas.

In this Circle of Love, I lift up my heart to the highest frequencies of joy, passion, enthusiasm, and purpose.

In this Circle of Love, I honor that which binds us all together in everlasting Unity. I work the Universal Law to

cause and effect my dreams into an experience.

It is beautiful in this Circle.

It is calm in this Circle.

It is powerful in this Circle.

In this Circle of love, I am living Life to Its most abundant, highest, and prosperous; allowing the best of me to flow.

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LAYING DOWN YOUR BURDENS

Lyrics from the Melanie song Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) tell us:

We were so close, there was no room

We bled inside each others wounds

We all had caught the same disease

And we all sang the songs of peace 

Part of the “wrapping it up with a bow” theme in December includes wrapping up our past that lingers in the dis-ease of shame, blame, guilt and pain; purging its energy and sending that energy off to the Universe to be used for better purposes, so it does not hold us back or leave some shadow in our belief system of not deserving the best life. We all have wounds from causing wounds, a bit of dis-ease from hurting someone else, as well as hurts we have experienced. However we also have the ability to create a field, a synergy within that can be used to change our consciousness and the beliefs that attract these conditions.

Our spiritual practices create the field...a field of release, healing, and forgiveness.

Wake up! Your word is all powerful. Your consciousness is one with Omnipotence. Your thought is infinite. Your destiny is eternal and your home is everlasting heaven. Realize the truth – I am living in a perfect universe, it always was perfect and always will be perfect.  ~Ernest Holmes

We have the ability to clear our subconscious or subjective mind, to open ourselves up from the tyranny of our past woes, worries, mistakes, and behaviors. It's not to render us not guilty of these transgressions but to free us so we can move from them and step into our potential, manifest our best, and thus give back and be of service to our world at full force. This deep love of self is a transformational intelligence.

When heart connections are made, our neural pathways expand and wise up. We reveal inner peace and thus World Peace because a peace exists in us. If you take a candle into a cave, you light the cave, yet you could also light many candles from the one and increase the light. So too, in giving light by exploring and releasing past pain and guilt/blame/shame can we optimize our manifestations

Melanie's song reminds us to:

Lay down, lay down, let it all down

Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown

The white bird, the dove in your heart...it's time to release it; to let it smile up all the frowns and habits of our past transgressions.

Release the resistance!

The manifestation work is done immediately by the Universe, however, what it looks like has to do with what you believe and where you stand...

I had a dream I met the Law. I won’t tell you what she looked liked or what she was wearing.

I met the Law and the Law was taking me on a tour. We entered this huge area, infinite, with rows and rows of stuff. We were walking along and all of a sudden I saw my name. 

I said, “hold on, wait; this my stuff?”

She said, “Well you know, whatever you want, whatever you require or declare or are going to require or declare – it’s all here ...waiting for is for you to reveal it in your life. 

So, yeah, it’s your row of stuff.

I looked at it. "Ah, look at that, it just goes on forever, I can have anything, anytime, it just goes on forever. That’s so great." There were boxes and labels of all kinds of things and ideas. And I noticed something I had already received. I said, “I remember getting that, but it didn’t really look as nice as that.

And she said, “Well, that’s because you were standing on the corner.”

“The corner, what are you talking about?

“Well,” she said, “when these things are delivered you have to be on Truth Trail.”

“Truth Trail?”  I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, “when that was being delivered you were standing on the corner of Truth Trail and Fear Avenue, so that was colored by your position at the corner.”

“Huh?”  I continued walking down and soon noticed some great things that were in my life and then I saw there was something that never really happened …so far, something that I have wanted and desired. And I said, “what happened to that? I wanted that, I was standing on Truth Trail, I did Treatment for it and everything else…"

“No……I heard you, the Law heard you. It was being delivered, but you weren’t on Truth Trail, you were on I Don’t Deserve It Drive. If you’re not on Truth Trail, it doesn’t show up.

“Jeez,” I said, “But what about that?” 

She said, “don’t even ask, you were on Lack Lane, buddy. When you are on Lack Lane, everything is tainted.”

I tell you this story because I want you all to join me in digging in, delving deeper into your spiritual Mind practices, to pay forward in mental coin so that the stuff that you require, the attitudes you require, the relationships you require, the peace of mind you have decided to have shown up as you desired it, as you pictured it, as you wanted it.

Let me encourage you to stay on Faith Freeway or Belief Boulevard or Spirit Street if you can’t be on Truth Trail. Because UPS  -the Universal Prosperity Service- they’re going to deliver and you want to be at the right address to get the right and perfect delivery.

Our belief sets the limit to the quality of our demonstration through a Principle that is limitless and from a Universal warehouse with infinite possibilities ready to fill everything you require. So it is not a question of Its willingness or of Its ability, it is entirely a question of our own receptivity and freedom from shame, blame, guilt, or regret. If you find your thoughts and beliefs flavored with any of that lack junk:  

Keep praying, treating your mind with love, 
backed by knowing your power 
...the Divine power within

It is like holding a glass with dirty water. You start pouring the mental equivalent of the clean, freshwater of prosperity or health or whatever into that glass; with love and gratitude-filled prayer and spiritual practice overflowing. In the Gospel of Thomas, Yeshua is quoted, 

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

Look at what beliefs and decisions you inherited from your family or adopted from society. 

  What beliefs and decisions do you have regarding your mind and body?

  What beliefs and decisions do you have about your family or love relationships?

   What beliefs and decisions do you have about friends, money, community, or work?

  What beliefs and decisions do you have about your Higher Self and Source? 

Where do you stand on those things now? In order to relieve the burden, you create gnosis, an understanding that allows you to release them in the revelation process to decide what you are for vs what you are against. 

You are for the forgiveness of all.

You are for the conscious eradication of any evil intentions within.

You are for a forward movement of Divine Love and Intelligence, intentionally activated in your consciousness and physical reality.

Since the explosion of the first atom bomb, we have read about the possibility of a physical chain reaction that might destroy civilization, as we understand it. There is another kind of energy that is even more important. This is the energy of faith, of affirmative prayer and spiritual meditation. There is no reason to doubt that in the field of spiritual consciousness a chain reaction could be created which would bless the world.  ~Ernest Holmes, Living the Science of Mind 

It's not the bills or the kids or the elderly or even the government. It's the burden in our minds. The darkness in our soul that must be revealed, laid down and released.

So raise the candles high

'Cause if you don't we could stay black against the night

Oh, raise them higher again

And if you do we could stay dry against the rain

Lay Down, Lay Down your burdens and celebrate the holidays by freeing ourselves of our burdens and making a stand on Truth Trail.

Affirmative Incantation

Peace in my heart out pictures as peace in my life and in the world. My peace of mind is a reflection of the Christ consciousness I share with all-kind. 

Since my Word affirms this step...and the next step, and the next, I shall speak it full of faith and conviction. I now reveal all that is hidden which has blocked my way. And I declare that all energies that is revealed shall now be reduced, reused, and recycled into the Universe for a greater cause...a greater purpose...a positive light.

I do not ignore, I reveal. I will not forget, I make an apology and forgive. I am not reminding, I am releasing. I detox and declutter, forgiving myself and others for any and all transgressions. I choose to lay down my regrets. I choose to lay down my trespasses. I choose to lay down my arms of negativity. I shall let the rain wash away the hurt and pain and to heal. In this moment, I claim my freedom from any guilt, shame, blame, or “woe is me.” That history no longer holds me from my beautiful, abundant, positive, peaceful, healthy, happy, joyous, and prosperous life. 

I now allow peace of mind, a clear conscience, the Christ Consciousness, and an ease of body to dominate my mind and out-picture in my life. I joyously sing praises and gratitude for the cleansing of my soul and the song of hallelujah that echoes in my heart.

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!

A Matrix of Divinity

Sometimes it can seem like nothing matters

To how you feel and the way that things are.

Uptight, anxious and a little scattered;

Dreams that once felt near, now seem so far               ~Steve Apperson

Dreams, wishes, hopes, fantasies, desires, revelations, declarations - we all have them. How do we materialize them? bring them into form – the 3D world? It's one of the big questions for us all. We have the spiritual tools, however, do we really believe in them?

Saturday was Tooth Fairy Day. Remember the tooth fairy?

Children cannot tell fantasy from reality until age 7 or 8. That is why they so easily believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.  ~Jean Piaget, child psychologist

And psychotherapist/parent coach Patti Ashley would add:

I would say keep the imagination going as long as it lasts!

However, Elaine Rose Glickman, author of “Your Kid’s a Brat and It’s All Your Fault: Nip the Attitude in the Bud - From Toddler to Tween,” thinks parents shouldn’t let their kids believe in the “Tooth Fairy:”

It sets your children up to look like a fool upon realizing they’ve been duped. They’ll feel gullible and stupid. Saying that these gifts are from some pretend creature takes away from your relationship. It teaches your kid not to trust you.

Your child could question if you’re also lying about, say, the importance of vegetables or the existence of God. And if you double down on the lie when she voices uncertainty, you’re also teaching her to doubt her own instincts about what is worthy of her belief and what should be questioned.

It begs the question:

Are Spiritual Mind Treatment, affirmative prayer 

and other practices just an adult Tooth Fairy?

Are we being duped by these ideas of “as if?”

Are these just lies we are telling ourselves while we wait 

for fate to take its hand or the law of averages 

to do its dirty work?

Well, the answer is no. When we embody ourselves in thoughts of pure logic and fact, we separate ourselves from that which prepares the mind and body to receive the good. Our perception and attitudes about life affect our body, mind, spirit, and what shows up in our experiences. Sounds like a very subtle thing, but what's in the subtlety is very powerful and its the lack of appreciating this subtlety that is the foundation of most of our troubles.

Without spiritual practice, whether it's with daily affirmative incantation work, prayer, visioning, gratitude, radical forgiveness, or just being with an open heart in meditation, we are consciously and soon unconsciously separating ourselves and tuning out from our good by tuning out of the Light, the Presence...God (or whatever you want to call It).

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

Sometimes this frequency needs to build itself up to be equal to that reality you want:

Wire rope begins with a single steel wire that's anywhere from .6 to 8 millimeters in diameter. Then several of these small wires are wound together into a strand. The number of wires per strand depends on the job the rope will perform and different applications require different degrees of flexibility and strength. Just as our inclusion of more and different wires strands yields stronger, more versatile/effective wire; so too our inclusion of more and different ideas, images, dreams, feelings, envisions and visioning work creates expanded, stronger, and more effective manifestations. 

Focusing on what we want to reveal in our lives, what we shall declare from the Universe, and how we open ourselves up to be aware and embody Its inspirations is part of the Divine Tapestry of creation. A tapestry is made by weaving the horizontal threads over and under the vertical threads, then squishing those horizontal threads down so they are very close together, thus completely hiding the vertical threads from view. The vertical threads are like the heart-centered work we do, the communion with Divine Intelligence...that which is rarely seen or, many times, even heard about.

Choose to love every facet of yourself unconditionally. You are a complex, multidimensional being and loving yourself requires identifying, accepting and loving all of our seemingly separate parts. This includes your personal self, broader self (other people), balance of the physical world (nature, activities, concepts…) and the collective Universe/God. ~Russell Anthony Gibbs, “The Principle of Oneness”

Spiritually speaking, we are all part of one big energetic organism - a tapestry if you will, expressing and experiencing itself, in the seen and the unseen; an intricate matrix of varying vibrations, the lower ones easier to see in form and the higher (most powerful) ones remaining mostly unseen. All energy is commingled like water in the ocean; impossible to determine where one drop begins or ends because there is no true separation of our individualized expressions of this singularity energy and the One Mind. Ralph Waldo Trine wrote in “In Tune with the Infinite:”

Anyone – a fool or an idiot – can be exclusive.  It comes easy.  It takes and it signifies a large nature to be universal, to be inclusive.  Only the man or the woman of a small, personal, self-centered, self-seeking nature is exclusive.  The man or the woman of a large, royal, unself-centered nature never is.  

Conclusion and Call to Action

Ask yourself...

Are you doing without being?

Excluding the spiritual for the logical?

You may accomplish a lot of things in the logical, but are you moving forward? are you fulfilled? I have found I am not....doing, doing and accomplishing, but not Being...not inclusive of Spirit...makes me feel un-whole, unaccomplished. Oh, I get things done and it is fun, from passionate and compassionate intent, goals are met and such, but something is always missing without at least dipping my toes mindfully into the Matrix of Divinity.

The Divine Matrix, your mind, heart and gut, and the energy centers of the body (chakras, if you like), which are circuit boards with their own hormones, frequencies, and brain-like functions are meant to work together as a team:

Idea (brain)

Feeling (heart)

Openness to Source (gut)

All are aligned along the energy centers of the body creating the frequency Einstein was talking about.

When we stay connected to them all, we Be, not just do; we easily weave the tapestry and wire the steel rope of our lives with a powerful energy that intentionally connects to where the Universe listens and takes Its instruction from, and that which speaks to us through inspiration and intuition from that Universal tapestry.

I began with a question:

Dreams, wishes, hopes, fantasies, desires, revelations, declarations - we all have them, but how do we materialize them? bring them into form – into the 3D world?

By opening our hearts to receiving and allowing, even inviting the Divine Intelligence in, as well as opening our mouths and mind to express our declarations to It, we set a powerful energy in motion.

Say it to claim it

Feel it to be it

And be open to receive it, to see it

Allow the Universe to inform you how to be more than a doer....and be the Be-er of life.

If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions. …. We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. 

Be like Albert Einstein, spend less of your time doing, and add more of your time being. Open your Divine Feminine aspects and put your order in to have the Universe provide the who and what of your desires - it will let the doing count more!

Affirmative Incantation

I embrace the entire community of Creation, expressing Its Divinity on Earth. Stocked with a myriad of infinite opportunities, I give my full attention to the beauty and wisdom of life, gratefully standing with calm and ease no matter what faces me. 

I know I will be informed with the perfect explanations and clarifications. 

I know I will be inspired to express the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that lead me to the best results. And I know I am taking the best direction, moving down the best path, and operating through an optimized course of decision and action. 

The source and substance of my supply, whether in my money, knowledge, healing, or love, lies in the Power and Presence that I commune with right now with joyous consecration. I claim my clarity and understanding and nothing will divert me from this community of appreciation, devotion, and peace. 

With this Divine Wisdom flowing through my entire energized body temple, I live an opulent life....a luscious life....a life that is blessed.

PURE IMAGINATION

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world?
There's nothing to it    ~Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse, PURE IMAGINATION, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"

Imagination is essential in the art of manifestation

Jean Houston recalled a story of her childhood:

Back when I was eight years old, I was attending a school in Manhattan where they felt it was a good idea for students to meet some of the great elders of the time. One of those elders was Albert Einstein, and one day we trotted across the river over to Princeton University to his house there. He had a lot of hair and was very sweet. One of my smart-alecky classmates said to him: "Uh, Mr. Einstein, how can we get to be as smart as you?" He said: "Read fairy tales,” which made no sense to us at all. So another smart-alecky kid said: "Mr. Einstein, how can we get to be smarter than you?" He said: "Read more fairy tales!"  

Why?

Imagination is essential in the art of manifestation

Now you may say, “I've put away childish things.” But remember this from Professor Einstein:

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.

Or you may think, “I deal with facts, not fantasy, delusion or hallucination.” And I would say to you that you are right it is not a fact, though it's a precursor to one. Check out this quote from Professor Morrison from the University of St. Andrews:

...life itself is an activity of imagining. ...the world originates in a divine activity identical with what we know ourselves as the activity of imagination … [the task being] to open the immortal eyes of man inward into the worlds of thought, into eternity, ever expanding in the bosom of God, the Human Imagination. Reality is not stable or immutable, it is an endless Becoming, and only by imaginatively projecting yourself into that flux, giving yourself up to it, could you ever discover what it really is.

Imagination is not something we see in our present circumstance, out there; though that may be an influence to our use of imagination. It's something found in our next circumstance, reached from within. Imagination is a reflective exercise, like contemplation. It's also a spiritual practice, as in visualizing the end result and how you feel about it is the fuel behind the maifestation of that idea your are seeking. Though I caution you to leave the "how's gonna get there" of it alone.

Now I can hear someone tell me, "Well, I'm a left-brain person – logical, analytical, objective intelligence is my game.” Check this out from Christopher Bergland in "Psychology Today:"

Researchers measured the participants' brain activity with functional MRI and found a cortical and subcortical network over a large part of the brain was responsible for their imagery manipulations. The network closely resembles the "mental workspace" that scholars have theorized might be responsible for much of human conscious experience and for the flexible cognitive abilities that humans have evolved over millennia.

That whole Roger Sperry idea of left and right brain dominance was debunked by University of Utah, Salt Lake City neuroscientists with their handy functional MRI. The conclusion:

...we demonstrate that left- and right-lateralized networks are homogeneously stronger among a constellation of hubs in the left and right hemispheres, but that such connections do not result in a subject-specific global brain lateralization difference that favors one network over the other (i.e. left-brained or right-brained). 

Imagination is essential in the art of manifestation

Imagination pushes you to unlearn what you’ve been told, ask different questions, and grow beyond who you thought you were. Asking questions about your day is an optimal way to step into your best day. The best questions get the best answers. Imagination is also a huge part of the solution mechanism in crisis-management, experimentation and hypothesizing in all the sciences. Nikola Tesla was all about the imagination and imagery. The only reason he wrote any of his ideas or invention plans was so others could build it and he could get patents for them.

And from the back I hear, "It's bad enough I have to dream, other than waste time daydreaming.” I think William Shakespeare said it best in "The Tempest" when Prospero spoke:

…we are such stuff as dreams are made on.

In fact, none-other than Carl Jung emphasized the importance of dreams to the unconscious mind. It is a creative time. Keith Richards came up with “Satisfaction” while dreaming. Not a bad piece of work for a nights sleep. But I'm not asking you to dream or daydream. They are imaginative times and a first step to creating your next now. I'm asking you to use your creativity to....well....since you love logic so much, let's quote Mr. Logic, Thomas Troward, the former British judge who turned to writing metaphysics in his retirement. From his book, "The Creative Process in the Individual," we learn:

Now what we require to see is the Creative Process has only one way of working, and that is by Reciprocity or Reflection – or as we might say by the Law of Reaction and Action, the action always being equivalent and correspondent to the action which generated it.

Our imagination sets up the mental equivalent of a picture which the Creative Process uses like a mirror to reflect what it is to manifest into your life. Your reaction, feelings, about what it is you desire is reciprocated by the Universe into an action into your experience. It's like the thoughts become things idea. When you use your imagination to fuel your next experience you use your full brain and the Divine Matrix (head, heart, gut brains) to transform into a full-on state of mind. That's what the Law of Cause and Effect will read to create your life. So, go ahead and brainstorm; take a deep dive into the infinite possibilities of your imagination. Envision your next adventure into the now. It is the icing on the cake of demonstration.

Imagination is also the language of the "eureka" or "ah-ha" moment. The brain is a dynamic workplace; all 3 pounds, 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion connections of it. So use it to bring into your life your greatest experiences.

Now, here are ways to inspire your imagination. The first one may surprise you.

1) Exercise
Surprisingly enough, exercise inspires imagination. Ralph Waldo Emerson said of Henry David Thoreau who you may remember moved to the country, Walden's Pond, to experience nature more and write about it. Emerson said:

The length of his walk uniformly made the length of his writing. If shut up in the house, he did not write at all.

Novelist, Henry Miller, an avid endurance cyclist, said this about exercising and writing:

...most writing is done away from the typewriter, away from the desk. I'd say it occurs in the quiet, silent moments, while you're walking or shaving or playing a game or whatever. . .You're working, your mind is working on this problem in the back of your head. So, when you get back to the machine it's a mere matter of transfer.

And Joyce Carol Oates, another novelist and devoted runner, tells us:

Running seems to allow me, ideally, an ex- panded consciousness in which I can envision what I'm writing as a film or a dream. I rarely invent at the typewriter, but recall what I've experienced. 

2) Seek Adventure
New experiences and hobbies help build neural pathways in the brain. Take a class! It will get your imagination fresh ideas.

3) Challenge Perception
Visual perception is 80% memory and 20% input from your eyes. We must develop our imagination by looking without our eyes and see with our other senses. Those who have taken my spiritual mind treatment (affirmative prayer) workshop may remember the idea of experiencing in mind all the senses about an idea, even if the idea of tasting or smelling this experience seems odd. What it does is empowers that idea, gives it depth and dimension. Christopher Berger, the lead author of a study at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, published in the scientific journal Current Biology about imagination and the senses:

 ...what this study shows is that our imagination of a sound or a shape changes how we perceive the world around us in the same way actually hearing that sound or seeing that shape does. Specifically, we found that what we imagine hearing can change what we actually see, and what we imagine seeing can change what we actually hear.

4) Voice it
Get out there and sing, share, tell a story, read a fairy tale out loud, listen to an audiobook or such things. Our voice is connected to emotion and emotion is connected to the imagination and all are connected to the power of manifestation.

5) Play
Be a kid again at least one hour a day, star gaze and other such activities. As Neville Goddard, who wrote extensively about imagination said:

Imagination is a spiritual sensation. Enter the image of the wish fulfilled, then give it sensory vividness and tones of reality by mentally acting as you would act were it a physical fact.

When you change your perspective and perception, you change your life. For clear and present certainty, using imagination is the fuel to changing your outlook, your attitude and your experiences.

Okay, how does this connect with Fathers Day, the summer solstice (happy summer, pull out those white pants) or Juneteenth? Well, like a father, imagination takes sacrifice, responsibility, nurturing and devotion. Like a father, imagination is about embracing the responsibility of nurturing and raising the child or manifestation of your future. It''s also similar in that one is sacrificing old ideas to devote ourselves to a family...of thoughts, feelings and beliefs that transform prosperous ideas into form.

Like what Juneteenth, which commemorates emancipation, imagination frees you from the bondage of that master called lack, limitation, dis-ease, and not enough-ness. Free of those ideas running around in our heads, we can manifest more happiness, health, loving relationships, and prosperity.

Finally, like the planet during the summer solstice, imagination tilts us towards the Great Light, warmly illuminating our consciousness with wisdom and inspiration; as well as suntan oil, dancing, a mojito, watermelon, and BBQ. Good times!

Being in quarantine does not stop our minds from working.

Being out of work does not stop our wisdom from working.

Being stuck indoors does not stop our connection with the Divine

So too, imagination doesn't go away because you've allow yourself to be enslaved by worry or some misguided idea of fate or destiny. It is there for you to play with and transcend make-believe into do-believe. It is there to stimulate the forward progress of your dreams and desires and give birth to the evolution, revolution, resolution, and distribution of your greatest life.

Happy Father's Day to all of you, no matter your gender. You are the mother-father-God or your experiences. Happy day to an imagination -your imagination- that creates your next reality today.



Affirmation
Imagine being supported by a Universe that always says yes
Imagine being protected by an energy of love and affection
Imagine a wall of trust and security surrounding me
Imagine encouragement and inspiration at my every turn
Imagine being accepted and appreciated exactly as I am
I can imagine that and I live it today.
And so it is.

WHO'S TALKING?

One day two frogs, Croakie and Aristoadle, were traveling in and out of a watering hole and accidentally fell into an extremely deep pit. They tried to leap out, but to no avail. So they began to yell and croak until other frogs heard them and came to help.

Seeing how deep the pit was, the other frogs yelled down to Croakie and Aristoadle that the hole was too deep for them to help. Leaning over the hole and waving their front legs, they began to yell to the frogs to just give up, there was no hope of them getting out; they were as good as dead.

But both frogs kept leaping and trying to get out of the hole. This went on for hours, and eventually one of the frogs, Croakie, taking heed to what the other frogs were telling him,  just gave up and died. However, Aristoadle continued to jump, even as the other frogs kept yelling and waving their front legs for him to stop and give up.

Finally, Aristoadle leaped so high that he was able to get to the top of the hole and use his back legs to push himself up and out. The other frogs were amazed.

When Aristoadle caught his breath, he went around thanking the other frogs for egging him on. “What are you talking about,” the other frogs asked? Aristaodle just smiled. The other frogs didn't know that this he was hard of hearing.

Life, death, encouragement, communication - what we say matters. What we hear and think matters.
Thoughts are things....in the long run. It's all in the words we speak and the language we bare.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ~Book of John

The personal self and the ultimate imperishable impersonal Self are one.  ~Upanishads

Not a part, not a mode of That, but identical That, that absolute Spirit of the World.  ~Vedanta, a Hindu philosophy taught by Sri Aurobindo and the Krishna Movement

Those are descriptions of the power of your word. You are identical to That Universal Power, the I am that I Am.

Don't freak out! You are the god of your thoughts, feelings, beliefs; not the whole world. Or, on a less spiritual note, try this explanation of you:

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish the delusion, but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind. ~Albert Einstein, 1950, condolence letter to Robert S. Marcus (Political Director of the World Jewish Congress)

If the energy of the Big Bang created all, than this energy lives in each and every one of us for us to use. That's quantum physics. We can't be afraid of this Truth, nor of the responsibility of what we experience and how we react to that experience. We especially can't be afraid of the conscious, mindful, intentional use of our Word, because that is where the power lives. Our actions may be powerful, however our word is most powerful and no action occurs without first the word in mind. This is science, gang!

A single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.  ~Andrew Newberg, M.D., neuroscientist and Mark Robert Waldman

Sometimes, we get frightened to speak truth to power. We fear some sort of slap-on-the-wrist because we stated our needs to the Universe or someone else, wondering if we are safe or worthy or if we have all the information required or the skills necessary to effectively communicate and declare our desires. This can happen on the outside, in conversation or protest with ourselves and others; and inside, in decision making, prayer, contemplation, visioning and visualizing.

I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word.  ~Emily Dickinson

Self talk is always about deciding...

 ...who we are

...what we are

...what our life is to be

What words are you using?  are they small and mumbly and without clarity? or full of fear and hesitancy? Or verbose? without much meaning? or distracted with pretty words or mantras that have no significance to you? or do you speak from reaction, instead of thoughtfulness?

When we move into a more mindful speech, we have much greater access to communicating in a fuller, multidimensional way with words that have depth, truth and purpose. Mindful speech, like all creation, is born and bred through the breath of intention and creativity. It is manifested through the word and the feeling behind it; a word that is conscious and from the heart, habitually spoken and which eventually takes root in the sub-conscious and our prevailing belief.

The word may be energetic vs. verbal, cosmic vs. vocal, or felt vs. spoken. The word may be found in the science of the Big Bang or the writings of the Tao, the Vedas, the Scriptures, the Torah, the Gnostics, the Quaran or the tales of Indigenous Tribes and Shamans and many others. Most importantly are the words we put into play that clarify our purpose, intention and declaration with bold, brave, wise, heart-felt language.

Language can spew love or hate, ethics or apathy, character or degradation, hope or despair, peace, prosperity, kindness, etc. We have the power to cause great harm or great healing with our speech to ourselves and others, as well, through our lack of speaking up. Silence is speech in itself, both inside and out. We could say the Lord's Prayer to plead or to require, talk to an outside Power or an inside Presence. We could sing “Amazing Grace” to condemn or to uplift. Mindful speech, felt speech, is the answer.

The Word of “expansion” created the Universe ... the quarks, gravity, the light, the atom.
The Word of “expression to be seen and present” created the planets and stars.
The Word of “experiencing life in a new way” created sentient beings...cells, animals, humans, flora and fauna.

God is intelligent Mind and Spirit, and there is a direct response from this Universal Intelligence to our intelligence. If we ask for bread, we shall not receive a stone. Be we are told we must ask believing, if we are to receive. …. Prayer is a mental, as well as a spiritual, function of intelligence. It is a certain manner of approach to the Spirit, a conscious act of the mind, a concrete experience of the knowing faculty. Prayer should be direct and specific, and should always be accompanied by a positive receptivity. God cannot answer prayers which have no meaning.   ~Ernest Holmes

Nor can your intellect answer without the desire to be answered. As creative agents we must put meaning and belief into our words, thoughts and prayers. It is the meaning, the conviction, the intentional mindfulness that is the root, the nexus, the fuel from which our words come to life.

All words are important. All words are thoughts. All thoughts are prayers. And all prayers steeped in the feeling, faith and gratitude of manifesting now, make it so. A song that is popular with the Unity teaching, words and Music by Lucille Olson, explains it this way:

Our thoughts are prayers, and we are always praying.Our thoughts are prayers; listen to what you're saying.Seek a higher consciousness, a state of peacefulness,And know that God is always there,And every thought becomes a prayer.

Our thoughts are prayers that Spirit resonates with.Our thoughts are prayers, the tools that we create with.Seek a higher consciousness, a state of mindfulness,And know that God is always there,And every thought becomes a prayer.

When we pray or whatever you want to call that conversation with your highest self or optimized self or the activities in the temporo-parietal junction, we converse with the energies of the mind. Be it a conversation of questioning, pondering, arguing and eventually concurring with the idea of what we want to create, to reach a goal, action step, decision, answer, statement, new question, hypothesis, parking space or healing any dis-ease in body, situation or mind, we do so with the power and presence of our word, the language we speak to ourselves.

Call to Action

Slow down, breathe, step out of reactivity. 

Whether that reactivity shows up as shutting down or slapping back, stop yourself before it takes over. It is usually not pretty, the reactive reaction. Speak from a connection with your best self. That's when and where we speak a word of love, wisdom and power into being. Using your divine voice is crucial whether for the parking space or the healing of a nation, for yourself or the common cause.

How do you know your words are the language of inspiration, prosperity, peace, advancement and victory? Are they moving you toward your good? Are they positive, speak of your worthiness and enough-ness, tell the tale of you being the best you can be and stepping into more? Are they words that have deep meaning for you? Do they propel you to the state of mind of success and action? Are they bold and brave, inspiring you to step out of your comfort zone and into the mindset of success? If the answer is yes, you are on it, my friend. Keep at it.

This also works in the common cause, as well as the personal one. We are here to stand and deliver, shout out how unity is our birthright - unity in love of life and unity in a life of peace and prosperity for all. We can use our word, talent, time and treasure to participate in our our singular life or that of democracy. And democracy is participating in the life of these United States and beyond.

Your life is the life of a spiritual being in a spiritual universe rockin' out the spiritual laws with peace, joy, love, light, wisdom, beauty, prosperity and health. This Word...your word...is the word of the Divine in you.

Use it with imaginative, bold, brave and loving intention!

Use it to focus on what you want!

Do not focus on want you don't want or wish to remove, it's strength is diminishing to your purpose.

Focus on what you want with words that influence you!

Who's talkin'? You're talking...the powerful, sassy, succulent, inspired, loving, beautiful wise child of the Infinite Universe. You're talking!

Talk peace into action

...LOVE into action

...EQUALITY into action

...JUSTICE into action

...and HAPPINESS into action for all.

Use your word(s) wisely to soar into the greatest adventure you and the planet can ever have!





Affirmation
I speak life into being with an intention of love, oneness and peace.
I speak life into being with an intention of health, calm and wisdom.
And I speak life into being with an intention of prosperity, opulence and joy.
I speak my Word today with bold and powerful gratitude, knowing the Power and Light within me brings it all into my good life.
I speak this Word today and experience it for myself and the world...right now!