BE, DO, Then HAVE Right Now

“I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Spirit!”

When we keep our attention focused on our relationship with and as Divine Intelligence throughout the day, our perspectives and perceptions of life are filtered through the lens of Truth, Love, and Oneness, giving us the resilience and perseverance to meet whatever may come our way.

We are called to a higher state of consciousness that informs us of our best next steps in thought, feeling, and action. 

But we got to get ourselves in the flow of Spirit where we can give up striving, being fearful, and being attached to outcomes, especially success. If we start our day knowing the Source of All and connecting to this energy we can tap into at any time and is always available to work through us as Divine Perfection, and remind ourselves of this powerful, pervasive constructive, and loving Presence, we can begin working through the channels of that Good - that Good of good ideas and bring it into our everyday experiences. 

We can then look at any challenges or conditions, any circumstances, anything happening in the world - positive or negative- and know that nothing is more powerful than the Divine source within.

We are each powerful creators and when we consistently claim that power, only Good can come to and from us. That Good can come as something wonderful and positive or a lesson that leads us to the wonderful and positive. It's a mindset; it's not a religious thing, though it could be, it's not even necessarily a spiritual thing, though it really is whether you call it that or not. This is a mindset of being the person who achieves, not just doing the doings to achieve their goal. It's about authenticity and power, as well as talent and skill. In other words,  we are to first BE the one that can DO what it takes to reach the HAVE (the goal).

You gotta BE before you DO in order to HAVE what you want. So the first question we ask ourselves each day is:

Who do I need to be in order to accomplish this goal? What do I need to embody?

This establishes your state of being. That's why I wake up each morning with my mind on Spirit, the Power and Presence within me, the Divine urge that outflows wisdom through me, the direct authority I am right now -without adding a title, degree, etc.- to be the authentic me, sharing my time, talent, and treasure powerfully, boldly, meaningfully, and full-heartedly whether it is for a day of rest, work, or play.

We are in the Water of Infinite Life as the fish is in the ocean…The Spirit of Life is all around us. It flows through us. It permeates everything.  ~This Thing Called Life

So we start the day knowing:

I am Being the channel and expression of the best me; here to deliver my gifts, my talents, and my skills with confidence and inner authority, withholding nothing.

Now, I answer the question, "What do I need to do in order to accomplish this goal that I have today?" 

Well, since I am the channel of the Divine Flow:

• I can dial up the talents required
• I can dial up the allies required
• I can make sure I and/or my team takes the path of least resistance mentally and physically
• I can strategically choose the best course whether that's further education, getting coaching, joining an accountability group, even stepping back and regrouping to prevent burn-out or feeling stuck, figuring out how to optimize my time.

This DO-time is when we get clear on the right actions, the best strategies, and even develop the best behaviors to have the goal....to have the Have.

It is a time to take action, like in this story:

There were two seeds laying side by side in the fertile soil. 

The first seed said, "I want to grow! I want to send my roots deep into the soil beneath me, and thrust my sprouts through the earth´s crust above me.

I want to unfurl my tender buds like banners to announce the arrival of spring. I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the blessing of the morning dew on my petals!" 

And so she grew... 

On the other hand, the second seed said, "Hmmmm. If I send my roots into the ground below, I don´t know what I will encounter in the dark. 

If I push my way through the hard soil above me I may damage my delicate sprouts. What if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat them? 

And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from the ground. No, no, no, no, no it is much better for me to wait until it is safe."  And so she waited. 

Then, one day, a yard hen scratching around in the early spring ground for food found the waiting seed...and promptly ate it. 

Moral of The Story: Those who DREAM BIG and THINK from knowing who they are will grow and prosper. Those who think negatively and refuse to BE before they DO, risk getting swallowed up by life. 

What would the best of You do? That could be the ideas and actions a mentor might take, but your version of it. Either way:

There is a Center in you that already knows.  Develop the consciousness that flows from this Center, for It is the Secret Place of the Most High within you.  ~Ernest Holmes

Finally, with our minds on Spirit, embodying the personal power of that within you and as you, and the process thought through, strategies set up, and clarity on the actions to take, it's time to Have.

Have at it:

• lean into the flow
• express your gifts
• trust the process
• listen to the voice of your vision
• answer the next calls, if any
• and most importantly, enjoy the journey as well as the results

Trust yourself in the process and trust the Divine in you for guidance. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his essay, Heroism, "Self-trust is the essence of heroism."

Be heroic by embodying the power in you. What is the Divine Urge seeking to express through you today, tomorrow...the next day?

To BE, DO, then HAVE that expression happen for you Right Now

...you got this!!!!

Affirmative Incantation

Knowing that the Divine Presence is closer to me than my very breath, I have complete faith in the outcome of my day.

I feel Divine Love surrounding me and Its protection uplifting me.

And I hear It's Song of Joy forever chanting Its empowering voice at the center of my being. 

I direct my thought to Be the powerful badass that I am with efficiency and humor, Do my best every moment of the day, and thus Have what I seek as I work with and through the rock-solid presence of the radiant Spirit within me. Divine Intelligence informs me of the best actions to take, therefore I focus only on positive and constructive thoughts and ideas.

Joyfully, I expect greater abundance, the highest level of fulfillment, superlative success, and a deeper peace all through my day.

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.

PEACE IN OUR HEARTS

Today I want to highlight Dr. King's dedication to nonviolent activism; protesting injustice with a call for peace and unity, oneness, and prosperity for all. Influenced by Yeshua, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Howard Thurman and others, he knew that the power of peace could move what seemed immovable, teach those who seemed unteachable, bring light where there is darkness, and change this nation and the world.

This morning we will be diving into Peace In Our Hearts. We are bigger than any occurrence or condition or any low vibrational frequencies like division, doubt, fear, or stress. We are in a field of infinite possibilities that react to our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.  What energy/vibration are you in?  What energy/vibration do you want to be in? 

Our optimal job is to turn away from the reaction of what is not peaceful and step into intention and creation of what is peaceful. Are you ready to let go of the fear, anger, uncertainty, and step into your clarity, understanding, certainty, love, and peace?

We can be the Light in the darkness by switching on the God switch. This is not some religious thing. It is as simple as:

How do you start your day in mind, body, soul,

thoughts, feelings, spiritual practice, and food?

How do you end your day?

Peace out there starts with peace inside you. Through our unity in the One and our awareness and awakening with our Highest Self, we not only bring peace in our hearts but become an example to others, rising the vibration throughout the world.

Let's start with our bodies. 

Being mindful of our bodies is essential to the expression of our attitudes, perspectives, and perceptions, and thus our beliefs and experiences. 

Are you all collapsed...shoulders slumped, spine contracted? 

Are you lifting up, doing your wonder woman pose, and deep breathwork?

Remember the spiritual practice of the breath is a release, refresh, and a reboot to mind and body. It is the precursor to the song in your heart revealing itself, illuminating your God-Light into your world and beyond.

Language and communication is important, so focus on what you want to expand. Self-talk is powerful. Choose yours wisely ...it's not about what you don't want....it's about what you want! As Carl Jung reminds us, “What you resist, persists.” So do not resist the negative, re-frame it to surrender to the positive. Life does not need to just be about the good vs. bad. It's about what you declare you are going to reveal in your life or the life of our nation.

Plug-In To What Nourishes You

Spiritual Practice, Community
Self Care – mentally and physically
Varying the sensory input - music, reading, etc.
Moving your body - motion creates emotion and emotion creates attitude, perception, and perspective. Is yours on strife and fear or peace, health and prosperity.

There is an indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything, I feel it though I do not see it. It is this unseen power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses. But it is possible to reason out the existence of God to a limited extent. Even in ordinary affairs we know that people do not know who rules or why and how [IT] rules and yet they know that there is a power that certainly rules.  ~Gandhi

That ruling power is in you....is you.

INTEGRITY/COURAGE

Dr. King wrote:

Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right.

Courage is the ability to do what is in your heart. 'Courage' comes from the Latin, 'cor,' meaning heart and spirit. We open our heart to trust the inner wisdom. The inner wisdom comes from Spirit, the Universal Intelligence. With integrity to our spiritual practices and courageousness in using the revelations from our spiritual practices, we can stand on the Principle of Love and Law. The unconditional love of the Divine and the Law that provides as we believe. 

BELIEVING

Gandhi asked...

...is this power benevolent or malevolent? I see it as purely benevolent, for I can see that in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth Truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists. Hence I gather that God is life, truth, light. ...love. ... the supreme Good. ...[not] merely satisf[ying] the intellect ...[but] rul[ing] the heart and transform[ing] it. ...express[ing] ...in every smallest act.... This can only be done through a definite realization, more real than the five senses can ever produce.

Peace is a possibility right now. 

Believing that is step one. Keep peace in mind everywhere you are. Let us embody what St. Francis declared:

I AM an instrument of Divine peace:

     where there is hatred, I shall sow love;

     where there is injury, pardon;

     where there is doubt, faith;

     where there is despair, hope;

     where there is darkness, light;

     where there is sadness, joy.

Divine Love, I now declare

That I shall not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

     to be understood as to understand,

     to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that I receive,

It is in pardoning that I am pardoned,

And so I forgive all

And allow all hate, fear, anger, disappointment, and victim-hood 

To be released from my heart and die from my experience

As I reveal my eternal life of love, peace, honor, justice, respect, kindness, and grace. 

You probably won't be able to curb every idea that enters your head, but by watching your actions, thoughts, character, and habits, you can always decide if you will make a home for it. 

On January 30th, we begin the 64 day Season for Nonviolence, an educational and grassroots campaign dedicated to the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi who believed in the power of truth and possibility — that a person of conscience could awaken others by refusing to go along with existing injustice and by pointing out more just and workable alternatives. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. applied Gandhian principles to the movement for civil rights.

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. ~Nikola Tesla 

 Peace begins within and radiates outwardly. Peace in the land starts with the individual. There is no peace in the nation without peace in each of our hearts. 

Get in the wave. Weep, rage, if you must...but then breathe, and sing. Plug-in, nourish, and give peace a chance...

Affirmative Incantation

Today I begin to use the Power within like I have never done before, to experience the Good that God is.

I know who I am – an individualized force of the creative Intelligence of All. I AM empowered by the Light and Wisdom of The Thing Itself...Spirit, Source, Divine Intelligence. I follow that Truth with the awareness that my thought is creative... thoughts are things. And so I sow the seeds of my joyous life with these words today. I move now as an outlet for the Universe to work with me, for me, by me, and through me, to make my life a living demonstration of Its greatest example.

So here I Am, Universe. Here I speak my Word, Spirit. Here I Am using my mind, heart, soul, brain, and gut to talk to you, declare as you, reveal through you a life being lived fully, with succulence, joy, grace, peace, and courage. I surround myself with love, kindness, wisdom, creativity, and vitality; nurturing my body, mind, and soul with goodness, and laughter.

Today I feed my consciousness with the nutrition of Divine Love and sing out with success!

ALWAYS THE WISER

 …you are one with the Creative Genius back of this vast array of ceaseless motion, this original flow of life. You are as much a part of it as the sun, the earth and the air. There is something in you telling you this -- like a voice echoing from some mountain top of inward vision, like a light whose origin no man has seen, like an impulse welling up from an invisible source. ~Ernest Holmes, This Thing Called You

The theme for 2021 is AWAKENING. After working on our perception of how life works, it is time to awaken to these perceptions...solidifying them in all we think, feel, and do.

Each month we will explore the path to our awakening. Themes like:

Loving It
Observing It and Decluttering It
Connecting, Expanding, and Authenticating It

                                                                                              …and much more

January is titled Believe It. Believing the wisdom of The Thing Itself, call It God, the Universe, Spirit, Divine Love, Divine Intelligence, Source...This Thing Called YOU

Our fundamental principles are an ageless amalgamation of many spiritual traditions and mystics that have tapped into the Infinite Eternal Gnosis of Universal Love. We believe in a Divine Intelligence, call It what you will, the Living Spirit Almighty; one, indestructible, absolute and self-existent Cause that manifests Itself in and through all creation.

We believe in the incarnation of that Intelligence in everyone and that all people are incarnations of the One Spirit.

We believe in the eternality, the immortality, and the continuity of the individual soul, forever and ever expanding, empowered by this loving Intelligence within.  Following these principles is a full body experience. It takes the logical mind, the open heart, a faith, an enlightenment through alignment, a willingness to transform and transcend, and an eager awakening to the Truth of how the Universe works. Ernest Holmes said in his 1959 Sermon by the Sea:

Others will arise who will know more than we do; they won’t be better or worse, they will be different and know more than we do. Evolution is forward. ... [a] most direct impartation of Divine Wisdom that ... incorporates the precepts of Jesus and Emerson and Buddha and all the rest of the wise.

It's not just about attending Sunday celebrations, classes and workshops, or reading about the teaching. It's about showing up for and with yourself; using personal responsibility traits like:

Honor and Purpose

We honor the ancestry of our teaching by acknowledging the alchemy of the universal wisdoms to embody and use them in our lives. We are not talking about some dogmatism or any kind of authority generated from some alleged revelations or special information delivered only to the mystics or metaphysicians...there is no secret product or special dispensation of Providence or wisdom. It is wisdom dispensed and available to all who reach out to receive and honor It; to those who welcome the wise, awaken the intuition, and willingly evolve the mind and heart.

Do you have a special quote or text, a “timeless” wisdom you keep near you at most or all times? If not, I ask you to find one that resonates with you. One that causes you to vibrate at the speed of the Divine and honor this powerful Word by awakening to it and using its gnosis (its knowledge) in revealing the Divinity in you.

Openness Is Our Mission

Grounding, centering, and communing with Mother Earth and the energies of the Cosmos opens us up to the Divine impulses and urges of wisdom that is always calling us inward to the deeper part of ourselves. We prepare ourselves by cultivating the consciousness of humility, letting go of our spiritual arrogance and bloated nothingness out of the path, and perceive beyond our current perspective. And to be open to the “new thing” God is doing in, as, and through us and all beings. In this openness, we bust through, soar and zoom out of the old perceptions and perspectives that held us back and leave it burned in a ceremonial bowl of release and renewal. 

Visioning a Vision to Envision and Live A Great Life

Here's a different take on the caterpillar to butterfly metamorphosis and its relation to inner wisdom, transformation and transcending. From Norie Huddle's book, “Butterfly” she writes:

The caterpillar’s new cells are called "imaginal cells". They resonate at a different frequency. They are so totally different from the caterpillar cells that his immune system thinks they are enemies . . . and gobbles them up - Chomp! Gulp! But these new imaginal cells continue to appear. More and more of them! Pretty soon, the caterpillar's immune system cannot destroy them fast enough. More and more of the imaginal cells survive. And then an amazing thing happens! The little, tiny, lonely imaginal cells start to clump together, into friendly little groups. They all resonate together at the same frequency, passing information from one to another. Then, after a while, another amazing thing happens! The clumps of imaginal cells start to cluster together! . . . A long string of clumping and clustering imaginal cells, all resonating at the same frequency, all passing information from one to another there inside the chrysalis.

A wave of Good News travels throughout the system - Lurches and heaves . . . but not yet a butterfly.

Then at some point, the entire long string of imaginal cells suddenly realizes all together that it is Something Different from the caterpillar. Something New! Something Wonderful!! . . . And in that realization is the shout of the birth of the butterfly!

Since the butterfly now "knows" that it is a butterfly, the little tiny imaginal cells no longer have to do all those things individual cells have to do. Now they are part of a multi-celled organism - A FAMILY who can share the work. Each new butterfly cell can take on a different job. There is something for everyone to do. And everyone is important. And each cell begins to do just that very thing it is most drawn to do. And every other cell encourages it to do just that.

Have a conversation with the wisdom you hear, read, and learn. Cultivate this Field of Consciousness into your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and let these wisdoms impress and inform, inspire, and evolve your life. When we know that we know what we know and put it in our lives as a practice, setting our previous ideas aside and becoming aware and conscious of the impress of Universal Spirit and Infinite Possibilities, our access to infinite wisdom and intelligence turns into a readiness for It to flow through us, as us, and with us.

One who comprehends truth is wise, one who loves it - good, one who orders his life in accordance with it - happy. ~John of Salisbury

When I want to learn something, I use the mental powers in my brain-mind. When I want to embody something or heal myself, I use the spiritual and emotional powers in my heart-mind. All are guided by the enteric-mind (the intuitive). The gut is where wisdom enters, the brain is where wisdom computes, and the heart is where wisdom lives and expresses.

The spiral of life is upward. Evolution carries us forward, not backward. Eternal and progressive expansion is its law and there are no breaks in its continuity. It seems to me that our evolution is the result of the unfolding consciousness of that which already is, and need but to be realized to become a fact of everyday life.  ~Ernest Holmes, Words That Heal Today

Let us not use 2020 as a headwind, holding us back. Let us use it as a tailwind, pushing us forward. 

When our purpose is strong and meaningful, 

we will be always the wiser.

 

When we have a mission that is bold and brave, 

we will be always the wiser. 

And when our vision is clear and forward moving, 

we will be ever the wiser.

Affirmative Incantation

Steeped in the wisdom of the ages, I humbly awaken to the inspiration. The greatest ideas of my life are now downloading into me:

When ancient mystics tell me I Am One with the Divine, I believe it.

When the modern mystics lay out the tools and practices to rise up to my best, I believe it.

When the Universe lets me know Its power lies within me ready to be used to manifest health, freedom, love, prosperity, peace, and tranquility, I believe It.

In this new year, I hereby resolve to evolve! I hereby provoke to become woke. I hereby breakthrough into the new.

Roused, revived, enlivened, and energized, I awaken to the wisdom of the ages and shape my world and my experiences with power and grace

thx btw

Thanksgiving has a lot of emotional heat associated with it. Family drama, the actual Thanksgiving story which was not so thankful day for the Wampanoag people. However, there is a lot about Thanksgiving history that is interesting to know. So here are a few fun facts about Turkey Day:

First Thanksgiving was a harvest feast in 1621 ... in October. There's no record of turkey being eaten at the meal this holiday is based upon, just waterfowl, venison, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. So, per Rogers and Hammerstein, "chicks and ducks and geese better scurry."

The mother of Thanksgiving Day was Sarah Josepha Hale; the 19th-century author of “Mary Had A Little Lamb.”

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is called Drinksgiving. A usual time of being back home and visiting old friends at the bar before the family festivities begin. Since we all must stay home, it's a good year to celebrate this event - you won't need a dedicated driver, UBER, LYFT, or cab.

Black Friday, is of course the day after Thanksgiving and the biggest shopping day of the year. It is also the busiest day for plumbers.

"Jingle Bells" was a song written in 1857, originally called "One Horse Open Sleigh." Its composer, James Pierpont, intended it to be a Thanksgiving Day song, but it became so popular around December 25th, that in 1859 the title was changed to "Jingle Bells" and it was dedicated as a Christmas carol.

Thanksgiving became a federal holiday in 1863. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Lincoln's GPS might have been a bit off on the location of the beneficent Father or Mother or Force or Divine Intelligence or The Thing Itself 's dwelleth-ing-ness, but the sentiment was certainly there.

Speaking of location. Have you decided how you're gonna do it this year? many are having an online family get together on FaceTime or Zoom, etc. So here I would like to offer you a short primer of 9 to save your Thanksgiving Zoom Dinner:

1) Can also use Google Meet, WebEx, and Microsoft Teams

2) You don't have to zoom through your Zoom holiday dinner as Zoom is deferring its 40 minute limit for Turkey Day, so talk politics and religion all you like with Uncle Charley.

3) Be sure to designate yourself the host. Be in charge...of the mute button; especially for using on Cousin Fred, whose questions always get too personal.

4) Plan ahead! The placement of cameras is important. Maybe put a laptop next to the turkey or on one end of the dinner table, place an iPhone near the cranberries, a webcam in the kitchen and by the stuffing, and perhaps an Ipad or tablet next to the pies.

5)   Have a practice run. You'll have some more time with the family you like, and more opportunities for holiday food! Perhaps on Drinksgiving.

6)   Remember since it is your Zoom Turkey Day, you have control over the mute button. I know that's a bit of a repeat, but important to remember.

7)   Don't get stressed out about the usual hiccups from slow internet; lost connections. Use it as a good excuse to lose Cousin Fred and Uncle Charley for a bit or forever – other than using the mute button.

8)   You might want to pick a background for the Zoom call, that way you don't have to tidy up the house.

9)   Most people won't know about the unlimited Zoom thing for Turkey Day. So, go ahead and keep it as short as you like. Maybe stick to the usual 40-minute limit. You know, have a prayer or two, the meal, some quick dessert, then ...  “nice to see ya, thx btw, goodnight!”

Gratitude comes from the Latin, gratia, meaning grace or graciousness. Gratitude then is a thing of grace to be thankful.

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.  ~Henry Van Dyke

GRATITUDE is more than a holiday experience, it is a daily part of living. Bad or good experience, let us be in gratitude. Whether it is a happy time or a challenging time with something learned, let us love it even if don't like it. Living in gratitude expands what you have now; it opens up a Power within you to have more from this ever-emerging infinite Universe.

Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.  ~Rumi

Gratitude and manifestation go together like turkey and mashed potatoes! It is full of feeling, impulse, and action.

Feeling ALWAYS precedes demonstration. The creative process is set in motion by our thoughts and feelings, whether conscious or unconscious, individual or collective. And It inspires an impulse.

Impulse is the act of following your inner guidance as you make decisions. Listening and heeding to the voice of the Divine within you. That which is instructive and constructive. That which inspires each step of the way. When you follow your Highest Self's guidance, it should feel effortless and fun! and leads you to...

Action. The Universe doesn’t act until we do. We set the Law in motion with our thoughts and feelings of gratitude and being physically engaged. So let us say, thx btw, as we harness the Divine Power that is our birthright, and: 

• Center ourselves in the quiet place within, where all possibility lies - communing with Spirit, our Highest Self;

• Thx btw, as we set our intention for manifestation, the starting point of everything that takes place in the Universe. When we see it, feel it, imagine it, taste it, smell it, experience it in our minds and hearts - we manifest it; 

• Thx btw, as we let go and let God handle the details of how / when / where it comes about; 

• And thx btw, as we follow the intuition stirring in our bellies and live as if our intention already is.

Ernest Holmes reminds us:

...Universal Subjective Mind is a doer and not a self-conscious knower. It knows how to do it but It does not have any conscious knowledge that It is doing. Man calls It forth into expression.

The Universe is only motivated to create when you are! Our job is to know, accept, and expect with gratitude and thanksgiving. I invite you to make Thanksgiving a daily holiday; maybe without the overeating and arguments. 

Say "thx btw" as you watch the gratefulness turn into an abundant expression of great love, health, creativity, prosperity, and if your anything like me, another slice of pumpkin pie.

Affirmative Incantation 

I show up in the world today with my best attention, my best intention, and my greatest powers of Love and wisdom to freely share the richness of my being, my talents, my time, and my treasure.

I have the courage to be my Authentic Self on this day, knowing my mind is the mind of God Itself at work and play. I give thanks for the gracious use of my best self in this life, for me, my family, my community, and my planet. I am in great gratitude for taking my unique place in expressing the creative energy of the Universe.

I am awake! I am aware! I am revealing my magnificence … eternally grateful to the Divine Intelligence within!

TAKING COMMUNION

Photo by Heike Mintel on Unsplash

Between God and me there is no in-between  ~Meister Eckhart

When you commune with the Divine Presence, you are communing with your highest self; the part of you, that is really all of you, the sense of Self which, inseparable from God, bridges with Divine Intelligence. It is the Divine in you, revealing ItSelf as you - a communion with all creation.

What have you done lately to commune with your Self and to exchange intimate thoughts and feelings on a deep spiritual level? We all have barriers to connecting w/Divine Intelligence. Most of us began by praying to God. As you begin to transform your thinking, you pray through God and, once transcended, you pray with and, ultimately, as God. You may wonder what can we do to release barriers of communion?  Take a walk with me...

God is where we are, who we are, all the time. Each of us is God showing up as [place your name here], and this Divine Intelligence continues to flow no matter what is happening in our lives; grief and unemployment or the best day and a big fat checking account. 

We are in an Infinite Mind and Infinite Mind is also in us.  It is by this Mind that we think. This Mind is eternal, therefore, we are eternal.  This Mind is complete, therefore, we are spiritually complete, though we do not appear to be so.     ~Science of Mind

Between our body and our soul or essence of our Being...there is no in-between. There is no duality between our bodily and spiritual experiences. When we understand that our spiritual identity is one with the Divine, we realize we are never alone. Each of us is filled with the Power, Presence, Love, Joy, Wisdom, and Beauty of the Divine; unique, but at one with all; individual, but indistinguishable. You are a flask, ready to be filled!

Let us take communion seriously. 

The most powerful prayer, one well-nigh omnipotent, and the worthiest work of all is the outcome of a quiet mind. The quieter it is the more powerful, the worthier, the deeper, the more telling and more perfect the prayer is. To the quiet mind all things are possible. What is a quiet mind? A quiet mind is one which nothing weighs on, nothing worries, which, free from ties and from all self-seeking, is wholly merged [with] God... Such a one can do no deed however small.   ~Meister Eckhart

The quiet mind is a trusting Mind in ourselves as God. When we open our hearts, minds, and souls to receive love, joy, and wisdom we can release any barriers or old stories that we’ve told ourselves. This open and quiet mind allows us to Truly feel that Divine connection to the Divine Intelligence and receive our greatest good. 

Some people prefer solitude. They say their peace of mind depends on this. Others say they would be better off in church. If you do well, you do well wherever you are. If you fail, you fail wherever you are. Your surroundings don’t matter. God is with you everywhere — in the market place as well as in seclusion or in the church. If you look for nothing but God, nothing or no one can disturb you. God is not distracted by a multitude of things. Nor can we be.  ~ Meister Eckhart

It's like bandwidth with the internet.  In the range of frequencies, there is a signal only you can transmit to the Universe. It may sound like mine, look like mine, but it is not – it is like each of us, universal but individualized, shared but unique, and we must widen this bandwidth with the power of conviction, spiritual practice, and love.

Conclusion and Call to Action

God is at home, it’s we who have gone out for a walk.  ~Meister Eckhart

To realize God is not just living, but God is Life, is to experience a connection with God. Happiness is a state of mind-wandering. Joy is a state of Being at one with the Presence within. In joy, we heal what is ill or dis-eased. 

To realize God is Truth – absolute and ready to serve is to experience a connection with God. When your gut feeling speaks, listen to the inspiration it brings. When you seek inspiration, open your heart and listen. 

To experience love and compassion is to experience a connection with God. There is no condition that enough Love will not heal. With fear, love is stunted. The important thing to realize is that Divine Love must be in your own heart and cannot operate from outside of It.

Got unanswered prayers? Remember Life and Truth expresses Itself through each of us. Practice love every day; watch your thoughts, your tongue, your deeds, and your prayers so that nothing contrary to love finds expression there. 

When you clearly realize that this is an intelligent universe run in principle, you experience your connection with God. Spirit has no limitation, and is infinite, all-knowing, timeless, boundless, unconditional with Its love, the Source, and Substance of Creative, manifesting our beliefs without exceptions. It does not change its stripes

When we realize God is a soul Spirit, we experience our connection with God. You are Spirit. Spirit cannot die. Your true self was never born and will never die. You are eternal, divine, unchanging Spirit in your true nature.

All we humans are doing is allowing God to “complete the circuit” within us—until we both see from the same perspective.  ~Richard Rohr, "Immortal Diamond: The Search For Our True Self"

When you feel out of it, it's like looking out at the street through a window made of fluted glass; it is a distortion made crooked by your perception, a false vision causing us to know ourselves through an illusion. 

This is the Truth:

The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me. My eye and God's eye is one eye, and one sight, and one knowledge, and one love.           ~Meister Eckhart

If some responsibility or task seems too great for you...

• Relax and Surrender to Life
• Remain in the Now
• Commune with Divine Energy, the Universal Flow
• Radiate with an open heart
• Cut through the noise to clarity by communing with Source in a spiritual practice
• Realize that you are one with God and the task will become “our business” instead of “my business”
• Laugh, howl, be a warrior to your open heart and liberated spirit

When you speak to yourself, you speak to God - that is taking communion. Best to do so intentionally.

AFFIRMATIVE INCANTATION

I Am mindful of how magnificent I Am. 

I Am mindful of the gratitude I have. 

I Am mindful of the faith and ease which dominates my thinking and the deep feelings with which I back my desires. 

I Am mindful of the Power that is within me and the Love that surrounds me. 

With this mindfulness, I lead a life of health, prosperity, creativity, love, peace, and honor. In the vast infinity of Life, perfection, wholeness, and completeness reign supreme, and today I continue to be mindful of my part in It all.

2020 The New Thought Guy

Foundations Under My Castles In the Air

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.  ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

This month is about AWARENESS:

Being awake, mindful, and conscious about who we are, what we want, and where we want it. Dreams (the castles in the air kind ) are the beginnings of any idea, of any manifestation or any journey. It can be the beginning of any step into our self-confidence. It is an experimentation of the mind where we see the brighter future and can experience our greatest strengths, and imagine the failures and successes to learn from; where we envision our best life.

Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.  ~Gloria Steinem

Day-dreaming vs mind-wandering?

Mind-wandering is a distraction from what's going on; off-task musings like staring into the air, looking out the window on the train. These are usually without a specific purpose other than being distracted from the present. Do not attempt this when driving or handling heavy machinery or pointy objects.

Mind-wandering can be a powerful precursor to day-dreaming. It allows a flow of discovery.

Daydreaming is a visionary fantasy, usually with pleasant thoughts of hopes or ambitions. It is a use of the imagination of something coming to pass and is experienced while awake. Daydreaming leads to an act of visualization/envisioning

Be fully awake if you want to dream.   ~Paulo Coelho

Daydreaming is focused, usually intentional, and are imaginative what-if mental projects possessing a narrative structure. They are usually full of plans and goals to achieve, showing feelings felt with a mental picture of purpose and success. This type of dream is like a seed with the potential to grow into a majestic sequoia. These castles in the air are also like the architectural blueprints for a building. They are only a potential, a design until you start to pour the concrete of the foundation and pound the wood and nails together.

Day-dreaming can be unity with our best self, the precursor of the mental equivalent or of the manifestation. In order for it to move from a vision to an envision, from fantasy to fact, you must live it on the inside to build it on the outside.

Building Tool #1:  Find the meaning it has for you

Parable of the Fisherman

One day a fisherman was sitting by his boat while playing with his child on a beautiful beach; his fishing pole resting against the boat.

A wealthy businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. Curious and horrified at the sight of the fisherman wasting the day, the businessman asked, "Why aren't you out fishing?"

The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled, and replied, "Because I already caught enough fish for one day." The businessman followed, "Why don't you catch some more?"

"What would I do with them?" replied the fisherman. "You could earn extra money," said the businessman, "then buy a bigger boat, go into deeper waters, and catch more fish. You would make enough money to buy nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. With that money, you could own two boats, maybe three boats. Eventually, you could have a whole fleet of boats and be rich like me."

"Then what would I do?" asked the fisherman. "Then," said the businessman, "you could really enjoy life."

The fisherman looked at the businessman quizzically and asked, "What do you think I am doing now?"

It's not about more, more, more - it's about fulfillment, fulfillment, fulfillment. A heartfelt purpose with a mission and a vision,

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.  ~Carl Jung

Awaken to the why more than the what of your dreams; that is a foundation-builder.

Building Tool #2:  Hold the vision

Get clear on what you want this dream to look like, smell like, taste like, feel like. Use this envisioning as your motivation, a compass point to keep you going in the right direction.

IMAGINATION, VISUALIZATION, SPECIFICATION

Building Tool #3:  Baby Steps

Identify your milestones and gap areas, reverse-engineer your success, and pick the action steps to make for each milestone. Use networking, research, outsourcing, content creation, etc. Break your action steps into smaller chunks, simple tasks that you can accomplish. In education, better your current skill-sets. In connections, connect with needed contacts and allies to assist you and other resources needed for completion, including our spiritual communions (our at-one-ments). Do the actions and hit the milestones one at a time.

Confidence, going in the direction of your dreams may include a journey that is fearful, terrifying, unknowing, and difficult, but we go towards them. Sometimes with baby steps, but always with boldness. They are an adventure that builds the life of majesty we want and that has always awaited us

Building Tool #4:  Connect with Spirit and stay in tune with having your dream

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.  ~Henry David Thoreau

Our inward reflection and inner work project outward and peace within reflects on everything we see and do. 

Conclusion and Call to Action

Don't dream it, be it!   ~Dr. Frank-n-Furter, Rocky Horror Show

The Science of Mind teaches us that the relationship between the individual and the Universal Mind is one of reflection. We reflect in our lives those castles in the air we have laid a foundation under with attention, focus, feelings, and belief. In the conclusion of Walden by Henry David Thoreau, he says: 

I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” 

It's not about chasing your dreams

It's about being a reflection of your dreams 

It's about going from imagination to contemplation to realization to initiation

It's about going from a vision to envisioning, fantasizing to being it to living it

Final Building Tool:  Never let anyone else’s opinion about what is and is not possible become your reality

Your dreams are not impossible, nor ridiculous. They are the start of something that could absolutely change your world. Without dreams, nothing changes, nothing grows or evolves.

So dream.  Dream bold.  Dream big.

Build those luscious, rich, mouth-watering, divine-inspired castles in the air! Then bravely lay a concretized foundation under them and start building your greatest, most fun, most sexy, most prosperously abundant vibrant life today!

A. I.

I am awake. I bear witness to my thoughts and pay attention to those that ignite my life with love, kindness, respect, dignity, health, and prosperity. All others, I learn from and transcend through to my highest.

As Light pours through me like the rays of the Sun, day or night, my heart is bright and awake. It sparks feelings that illuminate and support my dreams. And from them, I breathe this Light back into the nostrils of the Universe, bringing my clearest vision of abundant ideas alive. 

Awake to my Divine nature and communing with the constant amazement of the beauty that surrounds me - I rejoice with a mighty sound, a grateful heart, and a loving spirit.

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!

LABOR NO MORE

My blog title today is LABOR NO MORE

It's not about pregnancy...

It's about stopping the laborious thoughts of doom and gloom
It's about the ease that faith brings to our psyche/life
It's about unplugging by plugging in
It's about entering the No Toil Zone

We celebrate Labor Day in September. Labor is the exertion of one's powers of body or mind in productive work, striving toward a goal. It may also be an act that is servile or toil for someone. Servile in keeping up with the Jones' or some sociological /familial imprint of how success looks. Do you think a hard life of mental/physical toil adds up to a prosperous life? If you do, then it does. But it doesn't have to be like that.

What do you do for the first hour of your day? email, social media, voicemail, texts? That's not labor, whether you think it is part of your job or not. I get it about emergencies or deadlines, but a large majority of the time, those activities are an act of toiling, being a servant to work. Your checking in with other people's problems or their agendas, needs, or priorities – not yours. Though they may coincide, we want to stop reacting and start acting. 

During that first hour, write out your agenda/needs/priorities for the day - four or five must do things to accomplish or the one thing that will make everything else in the day easier. Similarly with the last hour of your day, get off of the social media, emails, working, etc. whirling dervish. Not even getting into the blue light effects of our electronics, it makes for restless sleep. The brain stays active – synapses still fire - which makes it harder to disengage from the day and slide into much-required rest of mind as well as body.

Take a digital break one hour before sleep

That's part of the no toil zone. You see, where our focus goes so too does our feelings/thoughts/body chemistry. It shows up in our sleep or lack thereof. It's like when you are focused on the car you want, ones just like it start showing up everywhere. 

Where our focus and faith goes, so too goes our thoughts and feelings.

Where our thoughts and feelings go, so too go our beliefs.

Where our beliefs go, so too go that which we create or destroy in life.

It's time for next-level thinking, next level courage, and next-level action – a new perspective. Even in imperfect action, there's perfection in the imperfect action.

Man is the builder, and to him are given all the materials out of which to construct the temple in which he dwells. He builds in wisdom or in ignorance, according to his ... receptivity to the sphere of intelligence within him. ~Charles Fillmore, “Talks on Truth”

How you choose to use this intelligence, reveal it, tap into it, be receptive to it equals  a life full of toil and drudgery, where you sit it in a dark cave, like the witches in Macbeth, honoring the false gods of anxiety, fear, lack, and difficulty; brewing hate-filled, lack-filled energy, screaming:

Double, double toil and trouble;

   Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

But instead of...

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—

...we throw in:

toe of struggle, nose of pain, 

eye of bad news, 

heart of hopelessness, and wings of worry -

...starting, as Corrie Ten Boom calls it, “a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.” This is something William Inge tells us bears “interest paid on trouble before it comes due.

It is a "woe is me" life:

Woe is me – there's too much work

Woe is me – I don't have time

Woe is me – 'fill in the blank'

We all have been in a state of shock with COVID...then frustrated and angry...then sad or even depressed. I know it...I've felt it. The next level is the acceptance mode, accepting this is the way it is and may be for a while or possibly a long while. Yet remembering/reminding/insisting on the Truth that Divinity is constantly revealed and available to you and you are always at choice, especially on how you react to these fears, frustrations, etc. You may need to pivot and shift.

It is not my ability, but my response to God's ability that counts.  ~Corrie Ten Boom, part of a Christian Netherlands family who saved 800 Jewish lives during the Nazi occupation

Living a "wow is me" life is being passionately invested in the greatness and power available to you right now, no matter the circumstance. Seeing yourself as God sees you.

enter the no toil zone

Here's a great tool to keep you in the no toil zone:

Set four alarms everyday with messages similar to these:

1)  Wake up:  “Good morning, today's going to be great, no matter what. I know, I know...just a few more minutes. Don't snooze away your life; get up and read your affirmative incantation and prepare yourself to have a rockin' day!”

2)  11 am:  “What are you focusing on right now?”

3)  3 pm:  “Look around at all your blessings.”

4)  Last hour before sleep:  “Reflect on the good that happened today, no matter how small, read your affirmative incantation and have a beautiful, restful sleep. Pleasant dreams!”

These no toil zone tools are simple, easy, and...POWERFUL.

We may have to do some labor every day, but we never have to toil or be servile to our job, employer, customers, clients, etc. If it looks you are, even a little bit - STOP IT. Your mind will thank you, your body will thank you, your family will thank you, and because you will be more efficient in time, attitude, and body, your job people will thank you.

A.I.

Today I affirm that I live a life of ease and blessing, no matter the conditions in front of me. I remember at all times that all the power, expertise, and strength, anything that I am required to know, do or be, is already flowing within; waiting to be tapped, revealed, opened and surrendered to, inspired and empowered from, and gratefully used to fulfill my life's purpose. 

I see my declarations as already done in Mind and I am lovingly lead down the perfect path with the best action steps necessary to accomplish all my goals. 

From this moment, on, I step into my “wow is me” life; totally immersed in Spirit and harmoniously balancing the Being of my life with the doing in my life.