I Awaken To My Spiritual Magnificence

God is. I am. I awaken to my spiritual magnificence. As I live my purpose in harmony with the Universe, I help to create a world that works for all. I step forward and allow that greater idea of who I am to emerge. I AM divinely fulfilled in all areas of my life -- in loving relationships, in creativity, in abundance, and in health.  My actions, thoughts and feelings attract that good into my experience.

 I am emerging with a larger consciousness of my authentic beingness, of my purposes here on this plane of consciousness. As I live in a Universe of limitless possibility, I am harmonized and powered by Divine Love. I allow Spirit to express through me, as me, and for me so that the perfect actualized me emerges. I let go of anything that prevents my emergence into my divine purpose, into my authenticity, into my connection to Spirit.

With gratitude, I release my word into the Law of Mind, knowing it returns to me multiplied  abundantly.

And so it is.

Do The Impossible

Lately I’ve been feeling impacted by all the negative news. Paris. San Bernardino.

I wondered, where is the uplifting, the inspirational in this world of messed up conditions? Then I came across the Not Impossible Foundation and Not Impossible Labs.  According to their website, Not Impossible makes DIY, accessible, tech-based solutions for people around the world, and then powerfully tells those stories to inspire others to do the same.

Founder Mick Ebeling figures out how to use technology to solve absurd problems, and gives it away or finds affordable solutions. He takes action.
 

For example, he learned that many people in Sudan lost arms from war injuries. They can’t afford prosthetics, so the tasks of everyday living are extremely challenging. He decided to do something about it.

He flew to Sudan and figured out how to create 3D printed arms for a boy named Daniel. And then taught others how to do the same.

The mission of the Not Impossible Lab, is “Help one, help many.” By helping Daniel, and creating a video to tell his story, Mick helps many.  The video becomes a “not impossible” bug that goes viral. 

Reportedly, this is his process: First, start to believe in this mentality that nothing is impossible. 

This fits right in with Ernest Holmes who says: Limitless power is at our disposal. By thinking, we can bring whatever we desire into our experience.  But when we say, I cannot have and I cannot enjoy good things, we demonstrate limitation. 

How much can we demonstrate?  asks Holmes.  Just what we can believe, accept, and find in our consciousness that is NOT  repudiated by our denials.

So in Mick’s case, after believing that nothing is impossible, he looks for absurdities out there in the world, and thinks of solutions. He’s an idea machine.

Next step: disruption. He doesn’t just think about something...he disrupts. He doesn’t wait for permission...he takes action. That reminds me of our teaching that says, “Treat and Use Your Feet.” Be proactive.

Another seemingly impossible situation was that of Tony Tempt Quan, a graffiti artist living in a hospital, completely paralyzed by ALS, except for his eyes. He couldn’t communicate; he couldn’t create art.

Mick’s crew of hackers and artists created the Eye Writer, a low-cost pair of glasses with hardware that enables Tempt to both  communicate and create art, using only his eyes.

In his book,  Not Impossible, Mick talks about the conversations we have in our heads about what CAN’T be done.  Change your brain to anticipate the positive, he advises.

Sound familiar? “Change your thinking, change your life,” says Ernest Holmes. And for Mick, it’s not just changing HIS life, it’s changing the lives of others, and thus changing the world, one small step at a time.  “Use technology for the sake of humanity,” and “Help one, help many.”

And so it is.

I Walk In A Cornucopia of Good

As there is one Power and I am an expression of that Power, I know that my word has Power. I know that my thoughts have Power. I lift and shift my thinking to address the challenges in my life, as well as to change the conditions in my world.  I draw on the spiritual directive, the directive of belief, knowing the answer to my prayer is in the prayer itself.

I know there is a Power for good in the Universe, and I can use it to demonstrate good in my life, and in the conditions of the larger world. I know I am walking in a field, a cornucopia of good--the primordial essence from which all things are made -- and from which I draw my own substance and supply. I direct my consciousness toward expressions of love, peace, harmony and respect for myself, and for the conditions I want to see change in the world. I knock on Heaven's door, and I am heard. I speak my word to the cosmic Essence and experience the reply. There is only One Power, One Source, One Life, and that Life is perfect, that Life is my life now.

With love and gratitude, and from this cornucopia of good, I release my word into the Law of Mind, knowing it returns to me multiplied abundantly.

And so it is.

Happiness

I recently became a grandmama again, with the adoption by my son and his wife of a beautiful baby boy. Their journey to adding a child to their family has been long and challenging, and now their desire has materialized in the form of little baby Hunter. When I look at their gallery of photos posted on the Internet, I see tangible "happiness." They may be tired, but they are very, very happy.

So the subject of happiness is on my radar. What constitutes happiness? We all seem to want it, sometimes we search for it. It can mean different things to different people. For David and his wife, it's a new baby, and gratitude for this expansion of loving relationships. For others, it can be radiant good heath, close friends, success on the job, financial freedom, a burst of creativity, or a spiritual "aha" moment.

Recently I saw the film, "Hector and the Search for Happiness," starring Simon Pegg as a successful psychiatrist disenchanted with his life...which he perceives as humdrum. Although he is living a life of privilege compared to most of the world, his patients bore him and his long-term relationship with his fiance, Clara, is stagnant. He decides to throw everything aside and research happiness, keeping a journal of his findings. He wonders, Is there a secret formula for happiness?

After each adventure or misadventure, he draws conclusions in his journal, such as:  making comparisons can spoil your happiness; a lot of people think happiness is being rich or important;  avoiding unhappiness is NOT the road to happiness; happiness is answering your calling; happiness is being loved for who you are; fear is an impediment to happiness; happiness is feeling completely alive (this after barely escaping death at the hands of kidnappers); or happiness is knowing how to celebrate. Basically he is on a journey of self-discovery, learning who he really is.

His big aha comes when he is rigged up to a machine which visually shows, in real time, his brain and how it reacts to different emotions.  He realizes that unhappiness for him would be losing Clara, and happiness would be becoming the man she would love to spend her life with. As his emotions unblock, the machine reveals to Hector that happiness is everything, especially LOVE.

As Ernest Holmes says, " Let us waste no further time looking for the secret of success or the key to happiness. Already the door is open and whosoever will, may enter.”

And so Hector enters, realizing in the end he already has the key to happpiness. He simply lifts and shifts his thinking, or as Ernest Holmes says, "Change your thinking, change your life."

Even Abraham Lincoln said: “Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” And from Dale Carnegie, “It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” 

So for Hector, as well as for all of us, we can know this:  If there is a secret or key to happiness, it’s already in us, in our thinking, which we can change and thus change our lives.

And so it is.


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A New Life

The big news for me this week is that I'm a grandmama again.  My son, David and his wife, Rachel, just adopted a beautiful baby boy and they are now deep in the throes of parenting.

Their journey to parenthood has been long and challenging and it's so moving to see them with their new son.

 Last summer David came down from the Bay Area to visit me, and we went to a picnic held by the adoption agency with which they were affiliated.

It was wonderful to see all the couples with their adopted children, and to know that so many adoptions were successful. There were also couples who were aspiring to adopt, and had yet to hold a baby in their arms. Those with babies told their adoption stories ... sometimes of several failed attempts, and then final success.

David and Rachel had already experienced one failed adoption. They had been matched with a birth mother in Missouri, had made a trip there to meet her which had been promising. They went back for the birth only to have the birth mother change her mind.  What a disappointment!

But I knew the right and perfect baby would appear.  And it did. The birth parents...both teenagers...were sent a box of 100 brochures with profiles of the prospective parents-to-be, including  David and Rachel’s.

The profile resonated, a meet-up trip was taken to Oxnard, reasonably close this time, and all went well. They came down for the birth last week, stayed with our relatives in the area, and also spent a night with me.

That night was interrupted at 3 a.m. ... they got word that labor had begun and they were off to the hospital, where they had their own room and took care of the baby shortly after birth. With an open adoption, both families have expanded.

There are a number of poems on the Internet about this moment. There's one that I love, "I am so very special" by Karen Heeney at poemhunter.com.

Life is a gift.

And so it is.





I Choose the Right Path

God is. I am. I am an individualized expression of God in action here on this plane of consciousness. I am Spirit having a human experience.

I stop, I look, I listen at the crossroads of human events and conditions around me. I become aware of the power and presence of God leading me to the right and perfect decision, the right and perfect path through the maze of earthly conditions surrounding me. I know God as omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient -- the one Power -- and know that I am one with that Power, that All Good Power. As an emanation of Spirit, of that All Power, All Good, I answer the call to bring that Good, that Power, that Light and that Love to this plane of existence, and to be an agent for positive change here and now. I allow the Infinite Power to express through me one transaction -- one transaction of human interaction -- at a time. I am straight in my own consciousness. I practice the presence. I dwell in the secret place of the most high.

With gratitude, I release my word into the Law of Mind, knowing it returns to me multiplied abundantly.

And so it is.

Leverage

As I sat down to work on my Creative Thought recently, I did my usual rambling around the Internet.

I came across a young CEO, a high school junior and founder of TechnoAcademy, who admonishes young people: Leverage Your Youth. Use technology to start a business.

On going to the website, I saw that Technoacademy has a special program to bring the wonders of technology to senior citizens, with education programs offered free of charge to senior citizen centers, starting in the Atlanta area.

From there I came upon a TED talk, from 2011, by a young app maker, Thomas Suarez. At age 12 he had two published apps and a startup company.  Speaking for kids today, he said: "For soccer, you could go to a soccer team. For violin, you could get lessons for a violin." Parents have done those things, but what if you want to make an app? Parents haven’t made apps and he wanted kids to be able to make them.

So he created an app club at his school, put his apps at the Apple App Store, and offers his club as a resource for teachers who want to experiment with teaching high tech.

One app, Bustin Jieber, is a whac-a-mole game that replaces the mole with a photo of Justin Bieber’s head, for those who want to whack Justin Bieber.  I have no idea about that, but apparently middle school kids do.

Now age 15, he has a company, Carrot Corp, which says it creates apps for iOS, Android and Google Glass, and is also revolutionizing 3D printing with ORB.

The truth is, I’m not even sure exactly what an app is. I have one of those old school cell phones, where I  tape the numbers of important people on the back and buy my minutes for the year...$100 a year for 100 minutes.

 I now have 364 minutes. This tell you how far behind the curve I am.

So I am definitely a candidate for Technoacademy’s care package for seniors, or an app club once I figure out what sort of app I would like for my yet-to-be purchased smart phone.

But back to leverage. Yes, some seniors need to upgrade their technology skills. Like Robert DeNiro in the recent film, The Intern. He plays a 70-year-old widowed retiree, Ben, who has tried all the usual retiree pursuits...travel, golf, classes, watching the grandkids, tai-chi in the park, etc.

But he feels there’s a hole in his life. He lacks purpose. He learns of a start-up  which wants to expand diversity by offering internships to seniors...not high school or college seniors, but senior citizens.

So Ben applies and is selected. What Ben lacks in computer savvy, such as getting on Facebook, he makes up for in his business and life experience. With his old school approach of wearing a suit, dispensing down-to-earth wisdom to his co-workers and his boss, he becomes an indispensable part of the company. They love him.

I won’t go into detail about the film, but I wondered if any companies besides this fictional one were offering senior internships. I searched the Internet and the only significant thing that I found was the Encore Program in San Francisco, which, according to its website, has pioneered programs to tap the talent and experience of people past midlife as a human resource for solving our most vexing social problems.

The CEO, Marc Freedman, asks on the blog: What one policy should Washington pass to benefit older Americans in 2015?   A Legacy Corps -- to support and mobilize one million Americans in their 50s, 60s and 70s to dedicate a year of service to improving prospects for the next generation in such areas as early childhood education, literacy, and school to work transitions.

In other words, leverage the older generation to improve American society while seniors develop a sense of purpose.

This is an exciting time. Technology is creating opportunities for people of any age--from young people with fresh outlooks to senior citizens with their accumulated knowledge.

As Ernest Holmes says, Life lies open to us, full rich and abundant. We have only to open the portals of our soul and allow the infinite to flow to us, and through us and for us.

And so it is.

How OLD Are You?

I was looking through the Ernest Holmes book, Living the Science of Mind, when I came upon this essay: "How OLD Are You?"

Sometimes I feel pretty old. Tired, sluggish, a bit on the fat side. I look in the mirror and mumble, "What happened?"

Holmes asks: When does a person get too old to enjoy life? Could it be that even age is something that happens to our minds rather than our bodies?  And could a person be as young at eighty as he is eighteen?

I read a story recently about Ernestine Shepherd, an eighty year old body builder. She keeps herself vital, healthy, strong and youthful by being “determined, dedicated and disciplined to stay fit.”

 So her process starts in her mind. She made a decision to be a world class body builder and she follows that up with a disciplined action plan.

As Holmes says, life is always working miracles in our bodies. If injured “there is an Intelligence that immediately puts all parts of the chemistry of our body to work to replace it with a new cell, one that is whole, complete and perfect.” Thus wounds heal. And we definitely can sculpt our bodies, as Shepherd has demonstrated.

Let’s steer our minds toward the possible, the enthusiastic expectation of fresh beginnings with each new day, says Holmes, rather than allow ourselves to be stuck with old stereotypes about aging.

If we divide our lives into thirds, he adds, typically the first third involves growing up and getting ready to live in a larger way, while the second third may involve falling in love, building a family and a career. In both thirds we believe there is more to come.

Sometimes, with the last third, the kick may have gone out of life. Perhaps the element of wonder and surprise in simple everyday things fades. Perhaps, unlike Shepherd, we stop being active.

With the aging of the Baby Boomer generation has come an Age Wave with longer life span bonus years. Now the search for meaning and purpose intensifies. In the book Life Reimagined, authors Richard Leider and Alan Webber provide a roadmap for discovering new life possibilities.

What’s next? we might ask, as we navigate today’s landscape. Become an explorer, they say. of not only of the world but of ourselves. Experiment. Keep a possibilities journal. Try things out. See what works.

Their Life Reimagined guidance system includes six practices:

Reflect on each step along the way, understanding your choices from the inside out.  
Connect with trusted friends and guides for feedback rather than journey alone. 
Explore possibilities with curiosity and courage.  
Choose options on which to focus and dive deeper to find what’s right for you.  
Repack: What do you need for the new way ahead? What do you keep or let go of? 
Act. Without action, nothing happens.

As Holmes says, life is activity. When we stop being active we turn away from the newness of life. Also, having faith in a Power greater than we are and in the eternal life of our soul enhances a childlike appetite for “What next?” and for joy in the game of life.

He concludes: “You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.”

And so it is.

It's Never Too Late

Recently, I sat down at my computer thinking, I have to come up with three Creative Thoughts for upcoming Presider assignments.

What can I speak about? I felt empty. I was sad about the recent death of a friend in my age range, and about an acquaintance, also in my age range, moving away because of health challenges. And I’d been thinking: Am I in denial to stay here in my home, alone?  I have another birthday coming up; the sands of time are running and I'm getting older.

All sorts of catastrophic panoramas played out in my mind. What if?  I don’t even want to go there. But I’ve been feeling tired; my extra weight is weighing me down. I wonder about my health, my vitality, progress on my projects. Basically I've been down in in the dumps.

I guess the Universe heard me, and responded.

Before I even touched fingers to keyboard, the phone rang. My friend Elaine called to tell me of an inspirational story she’d seen on television...about an 80 year old body builder, Ernestine Shepherd. I could immediately see Ernestine on the computer, thanks to the Internet. Wow!

Here’s someone who ls a personal trainer, professional model, competitive bodybuilder and was declared the World’s Oldest Performing Female Body Builder by Guinness World Records in 2010 at age 75. Then she lost that title to another septuagenarian, Edith Connor, age 77, in 2012. So here are these two 80 year olds, pumping iron and who are, in the words of Ernestine, "determined, dedicated and disciplined to be fit."

Reportedly, when Ernestine prepares to compete in 5K and 10 K races and run marathons, she’s up at 4 am for a 10 mile run, runs 80 miles a week, and of course trains in the gym with weights several days a week.

What do these women eat, I wondered. One source says Ernestine eats 1700 calories a day, mostly from boiled egg whites, chicken, vegetables and liquid egg white drink. Edith Connor’s recommendation is don’t diet: see what foods increase body fats; set reasonable goals.

Edith didn’t enter her first body building competition until age 65...She has three sons, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Well, really!  After reading about these two ladies, I decided to throw on my clothes and go for a morning walk.   I’ve been going to the gym at least five  times a week lately, doing the elliptical and the bicycle, but it’s obviously not enough. I don’t see myself running 80 miles a week, but I need inspiration to up the ante, and this is giving it to me.

As it often happens with the Internet, one source leads to another, and I found myself looking at the work of Vic Johnson, writer and motivational speaker, and his book “It’s Never too Late and You’re Never Too Old.” He writes about 50 people over 50 who illustrate changing mindsets and cliche’s about age, as well as overcoming obstacles related to health, income, retirement and reinvention.  Age is not an excuse for inaction, giving up on dreams, or finding new successes in life, he says.

Johnson’s book profiles people who illustrate letting go of old notions, embracing the new, moving out of one’s way, ignoring past failures or lack of progress, experimenting and embracing new possibilities. Perhaps a skill we’ve been honing for years hasn’t blossomed, he writes. But by focusing more time and effort, we can create a breakthrough moment.

Yes, we might have to start slowly and set reasonable goals, but with persistence we CAN rejuvenate and reinvent ourselves. I like this quote from 19th century writer George Eliot: “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.”

Ernest Holmes would agree. As he says, life lies open to us, full, rich and abundant. So get out and manifest who you want to be.

And so it is.

The Lion and Science of Mind

 

"Lion" photo by Pareeerica on Flickr.  Some Rights Reserved.

The big news recently was the trophy hunt killing of Cecil, the beloved lion from a Zimbabwe nature preserve. According to Internet reports, he was lured from his protected environment, shot with a bow and arrow, tracked for some 40 hours as he fled, bleeding, and then gunned down with a bullet.

The story has sparked disgust and outrage around the globe. I was incredibly sad, even though I knew nothing about Cecil before the story broke. Cecil was such a beautiful animal; tourists came from far and wide to enjoy and photograph him.

He can be seen on video coming straight toward tourist vehicles, lying languorously in the road, playing with his mates and cubs, and growling at his brother, Jericho, who shared the pride with him. Being a photographer, I thought: I would love to photograph him. Why would anyone want to kill him?

The hunter, an American dentist who reportedly paid $55,000 for the hunt, was photographed smiling with the dead Cecil, and took the trophy head and pelt back to the US.

His guides have been arrested for illegal poaching and a petition rapidly gained 100,000 signatures here to have the dentist extradited back to Zimbabwe to face criminal charges. He says everything was on the up and up, with permits, etc. and the guides are responsible.

Why has this story gained such traction? Major reasons are that lions are charismatic animals and Cecil had a name. And when you name something, it gains importance. Cecil was named after Cecil Rhodes, the British mining magnate and for whom the country of Rhodesia is named.

Although there are reportedly 20,000 lions remaining in Africa, Cecil stood out because he had a beautiful dark mane, lived in a park, wore a collar as part of a Wildlife Conservation Research project and allowed tourists to come reasonably close to him.

Since 2008 he has worn a GPS tracking collar. Researchers have learned that the cubs are usually killed by the next dominant lion, so the impact can be larger than just a death such as Cecil’s.

The lion, with a rapidly declining population, is listed as vulnerable, not yet as endangered. Some want to change that classification, and prohibit trophies from such hunts entering the country.

I began wondering how to approach this topic from a Science of Mind perspective  All of us, including the lion, are expressions of God in action. We don’t recognize evil, although we do recognize free will, at least in humans.

So the dentist has a choice...he chooses to hunt and kill animals. He wants trophies, and there are photos of him on the Internet with his many trophy kills.

Ernest Holmes says, ‘Love is the greatest power in the Universe. It is the basis and source of everything.” So to my mind, killing animals for sport is the farthest thing from love I can imagine.

He also says: “To believe in a just law of cause and effect, carrying with it a punishment or a reward, is to believe in righteousness.” So perhaps that is now being carried out.

As the flak continues, the dentist reportedly has closed his practice and is in hiding from protests, angry threats, public shaming and possible legal fallout. In Zimbabwe, tourist revenues have fallen as international tourists cancel their trips, and perceive that country as not serious in protecting animal rights.

It’s a complex issue, and there are many arguments given on the Internet for and against trophy hunting. Some cite the revenues coming to Zimbabwe to further conservation efforts. Some discuss the many other injustices that deserve our attention.

But as we look around our world we see our God-given natural heritage -- not just wildlife -- disappearing. Cecil’s death simply makes this more strikingly visible.  He becomes a symbol, a banner, for conserving the natural beauty of our planet. It’s up to us to decide how we can be part of the solution.

Ernest Holmes also says: “Even God cannot do our job for us.”

And so it is.

I Live Large

Breathing in, I feel the power and presence of Spirit - in my body, in my life, in my Soul. I am willing to know this possibility for good, and know that the infinite power and presence of Spirit is expressing as me, as you, as all people, right now. It expresses through me, as me and for me in all my labors, all my finances, all my activities, and all my growth -- both personal and splritual.

I am open and receptive to the action of Creative Intelligence in all my affairs. I enjoy the beauty and the abundance all around me, knowing that everything and everyone is God in action here on this plane of existence. I know it is my birthright to live large, to live in joy, in love, in peace, and in harmony with the Divine Source.

From the Cosmic vortex I attract all good into my earthly experience and listen for Divine guidance to spur my journey toward spiritual illumination. I step into that field of good, into the unfolding of right and perfect action.

With gratitude, I release my word into the Law of Mind, knowing it returns to me multiplied abundantly.

And so it is.

Positive Values Power My LIfe

 

As there is one Power, and I am one with that Power, I declare this to be my truth. I heal any sense of separation, any sense of race consciousness that separates me from others. I hold those values of love, joy, peace, harmony, tolerance  and compassion within me. I keep a sacred trust for my role in the human experience, a trust from which I pass on those positive values to the next generation. I am a loving, compassionate, tolerant and understanding example of humanity, and know that I model values that impact positively the world of affairs. I bring a level of mindfulness and consciousness to all my worldly affairs, knowing that I can shift my thinking and step into behaviors that enable me to live my best life now.

As I live the life of Science of Mind, I know I have built up a spiritual bank account from which I can withdraw the strength, power, love, happiness, joy, creativity and faith to sustain me on my life’s journey. I regularly deposit spiritual substance into my account, building a reserve force to power the four pillars of my life -- loving relationships, creative expression, radiant good health and financial abundance -- in the ways that I desire.

With deep gratitude for all this and more, I release my word into the Divine Vortex, knowing it returns to me, multiplied abundantly.

And so it is.

"I'll See You In My Dreams" Hits Home

  I’ve been to the movies again -- that seems to be my favorite pastime lately. This one, I’ll See You In My Dreams, is memorable because it hits so close to home -- to where I am in life.

I went with a female friend, in my age range, and we both came out of the theater feeling dissatisfied. We’re programmed for a happy ending. It didn’t happen. We expect, when a viable romance rears its head, to see a see a satisfying rom-com fantasy go the expected route. It didn’t.

Instead, we see a portrait of a seventy-something woman, Carol, played beautifully by Blythe Danner, widowed as we are:  two nice, sensible women, living alone in our comfortable Southern California homes, enjoying our independence, some pleasant friendships, loving family connections (however distant geographically), and reasonable good health and prosperity.  Both of us, like Carol, had solid marriages and raised offspring.

Carol has three friends living in a retirement community nearby, but she resists their suggestions she join them. She lives happily with her dog until he dies.

Then she experiments with speed dating -- with the usual disappointments; has a brief but promising relationship with the charismatic Bill, played by Sam Elliot, until he suddenly dies;  strikes up a December-May platonic friendship with the pool cleaner; and demonstrates in a karaoke bar that she can still sing.  Long ago, before she became a teacher, she was a singer.

So we find her, in her twilight years, struggling to find meaning in her life. As Stephen Holden of the New York Times says in his film review, “It’s real subject is time and how people old enough to know the end is in sight deal with looming finality.”

Yes, her circumstances are comfortable. But as Holden says, “...when most of your life is behind you, what does having everything really mean? That’s the question this timid, wistful film addresses as it tiptoes around the subject of mortality.”

I found myself wanting more for Carol, which is no doubt a projection of my own desire for more -- more of something, something. At one point, Carol’s friends enthusiastically agree to take a cruise together -- to Iceland. I didn’t feel that would happen, perhaps because a cruise to Iceland doesn’t interest me.

At the end of the film, Carol adopts a rescue dog, so she has a new companion. For me, I’ve avoided dogs, cats, birds and hamsters since the kids left and the dog died.

Carol considers singing, as she visits the karaoke bar again, only to find no karaoke that night. That resonated with me, as I’ve been taking vocal lessons and had a fun experience recently with the San Fernando Valley Chorale.

One thing glaringly apparent to me, aside from the brief foray into singing, is her lack of creative expression and a spiritual path. Carol sits around sipping chardonnay and occasionally plays a round of golf. Other than that, her life appears aimless.

If Bill had lived, would she have “found happiness?” That’s a lot of responsibility to put on another human being. Yes, it would be nice to have a companion like Bill, but there’s still that shank of life to live, that gift of time on this plane of existence. What’s she going to do with it?

What are any of us going to do with it, no matter where we are on the age continuum? As Religious Scientists, we know we carry a divine spark within, that there is a Power for good in the Universe and we can use It.

As Ernest Holmes says, and I love this quote: “Life lies open to me--rich, full, abundant.
My thought, which is my key to life, opens all doors for me....I have only to open the portals of my soul and accept that which is ready to express through me. Today I fling these portals wide; today I am the instrument through which life flows.”

So Carol, as well as the rest of us: fling those portals wide! Do more, be more,  have more.

And so it is.

Eternal Youth

If you were given the gift of eternal youth...let’s say your body would never grow older than age 29, would you consider it a blessing or a curse?

In today’s youth-obsessed society, many attempt to stop the clock on the aging process.  We see advertisements for all sorts of beauty creams to prevent wrinkles, products to color hair, gyms and exercise programs to keep us strong, and all sorts of anti-aging supplements, including one to stop telemeres in our DNA from shortening.

So we have the recent romantic fantasy film, The Age of Adaline, in which the main character, a young widow and single mother, has a freak accident in 1937 and never ages another day.

Is she happy about this? No, she lives her life as much under the radar as possible.
 She escapes at the age of 45 from curious government agents who try to take her away for testing; thereafter she takes a new identity every ten years, makes only short-term friends who won’t learn her “secret,” avoids love affairs, except for one big mistake, and takes a succession of springer spaniels as her companions.

Born in 1908, we meet her in the present at age 107 ... looking fabulous in her Lauren Bacall/Veronica Lake hair and vintage clothing. We also are privy to a conversation between Adaline and her now 82-year old daughter, who is concerned with assisted living, hip replacements and other such aspects of aging. These, of course, don’t concern Adaline, but her overall demeanor is one of sadness and melancholy.

I won’t spoil the story, except to say that it has a happy ending when she discovers her first gray hair.

My initial reaction to the film was: what total mis-mangement of the gift of youth.
Granted, it would be very challenging to see those around you grow old and die, to realize you’re different, very different, from the rest of humanity, to find yourself isolated and alone.

But also, could there be an upside? Being healthy, vigorous, and strong as the years pass, without the decrepitude of aging. Could there be opportunities for fantastic personal and spiritual growth, for incredible learning, mastery of all sorts of skills, and extensive travels, experiences and relationships that we could never fit in one lifetime?

I was reminded of a book I read years ago...My First Two Thousand Years, The Autobiography of the Wandering Jew. The main character, Isaac Laquedem,  hatefully mocks Jesus on the way to crucifixion and death. Jesus, in a blaze of anger, declares; “I will go, but thou shalt tarry until I return!”

And that’s what happened. Isaac tarries, remaining ageless while all around him people passed into history. Along the way he meets many now-famous persons, has fantastic experiences, and influences any number of important historical events.

All in all, it is a rousing trip through the past two thousand years, up to the point where the curse may be released as he confesses his story, under psychoanalysis, in a monastery in 1928. His chronicle, said one of the listeners, is the history of human passion; it sheds new and colorful light on religion, sex, morality, occultism, rejuvenation, reincarnation, and more.

One thing of note that Isaac discovered, and that I saw no hint of in Adaline’s story: “It is not enough to live. One must find a purpose, a reason for existence... What did I desire? What purpose could I make my own?” he asks, as he sets forth to conquer ennui, and other challenges of human life.

That’s the question for all of us, regardless of the number of years we are granted, or the number of challenges we face. What purpose can we make our own? How can we make the most of the present moment, be here NOW, and truly enjoy this gift of life?

And so it is.

Over the Rainbow

Our center's fifth annual spring fling was held recently, with music, food, dancing, a silent auction and a general good time by all. It’s a great opportunity for us to get together for just plain fun. The theme this year was "Over the Rainbow." That sent me to the Internet to learn a bit about various meanings attributed to the rainbow.

According to the Bible, the rainbow appeared after the great flood that destroyed all life on Earth, except that preserved in the Ark. It was s a sign of promise, from God.  He said to Noah: “I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. . . and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

Over the centuries, the beautiful rainbow in the sky, which appears as a play of light upon the raindrops, has had many meanings, including Hope, Divinity, Potential, Connection, Transformation and Spiritual Cohesion.

In the Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, those who have attained the highest meditative state are said to experience the “rainbow body” or body of light when they attain oneness with the Divine. The rainbow is often seen as a bridge, such as a celestial bridge connecting the Earth to Heaven, or a channel to enlightenment.

For the Celts, the rainbow and its cauldron at the end symbolized fertility, the promise of a child and the continuance of the bloodline. This morphed into the familiar story of the pot of gold, guarded by a leprechaun, at the end of the rainbow.

Native Americans have a number of myths and sayings around rainbows. For example, from manataka.org comes a poem about the Rainbow Tribe by an unknown author, which includes the lines:

"The sun rose on a magical new day...
Over the whole earth they came,
The people of every colour,
Sister, Brother, Father, Mother
Traveling over many a land
People of the Rainbow
Children of the Way..."

The Sioux have this prophecy about The Rainbow Warriors: There will come a time when the earth is sick and the animals and plants begin to die, then the Indians will regain their spirit and gather people of all nations, colors and beliefs to join together in the fight to save the Earth.

Rainbow power can remind us to take a fresh look at our opportunities, our options for current challenges, our readiness to cross over from one phase of life to another, or to examine our own connection to the Divine.  The rainbow, that paintbrush of divinity, reminds us to open up to spirit, to let it guide us on our life’s journey.

We can also see it as a gift, and when we encounter its beauty, we can be reminded to be grateful for the gifts and blessings we already experience in our lives.

In the song” Over the Rainbow,” from the film, "The Wizard of Oz," Judy Garland asks plaintively why she can’t fly over the rainbow. Bluebirds do it. Why can’t she? It’s so elusive...we can’t seem to move over it, or reach its end. But it brings a promise -- a promise that our troubles will soon be over, and we’ll experience new beginnings and new prosperity.  We’ll reach our heart’s desire at the end of the rainbow and we’ll  celebrate the fulfillment of our dreams.  

And so it is.

Play A Bigger Game

 

I came upon the book, Play Your Bigger Game, 9 Minutes to Learn, A Lifetime To Live, by Lifecoach Rick Tamlyn. It's a roadmap to living your best life and includes a gameboard, which looks a bit like Tic Tac Toe.

You can start anywhere on the board, which represents Tamlyn's plhilosophy: "Life is all made up, so why not make it up the way uyou really want?" The names on the squares express what most of us want: Create a meaningful life and have a positive impact on the world around us.

On the squares you'll find:

Hunger - you feel a powerful desire for something more, even if uyoui don't know what it is.
Compelling Purpose - you define or seek a purpose that inspires or drives you.
Comfort Zones - you feel comfortable, or even uncomfortable, but are afraid to leave for something better.
Gulp - you feel fear, possibly mixed with excitement, before the leap into change.
Investment - you look at time, money, talent, energy and work needed to make the change.
Allies - you build a support network, which can be family, friends, circumstances, other people, pets, your church...whatever helps you.
Sustainability - what you  need to sustain yuou, mentally, physicaly emotionally and spiritually for this bigger game.
Assess - ask, "How am I doing?' "Where am I." "Where do I want to go?"
Bold Action - the Center square, where you actually make the leap into your bigger game.

So if you're seeking a compelling purpose, stuck on your project, or find your New Year's Resolutions waning, this book can be an antidote. Turn them into a game, with you as the player. Or you could get some friends together for a rousing group session.

Religious Scientists will agree with Tamlyn when he says: Your life goes in the direction of the words that fall from your mouth; your life goes in the direction of the questions you ask. This is something we know, and practice as best we can.

This board game triggers questions that keep us stretching, thriving, growing and going beyond limits, self-imposed or not.

I found the book and the game helpful as I looked at my own completed book manuscript. Yes, I completed the writing, but now felt overwhelmed at the next stage--actually getting it published and having the book in my hand.

It's easier to hang out in my comfort zone at home, puttering and decluttering and watching movies. This is positive as I take care of myself and my home, but also negative as it keeps me stuck.

I see that I need to move around that board to Assess where I'm at, get over the fear of moving into unchartered waters of the publishing world, and take a big Gulp.  It's only Bold  Action that will take me into MY Bigger Game.

So are you a player who wants to play a bigger game on this plane of existence? Who, at the end of your life prefers to say, "It's been a great ride," rather than "If only...?"

Then as Tamlyn suggests, get in touch with what matters to you, ask some good questions, Gulp and move forward with Bold Action. His book provides the details on how to do this.

We are fortunate at our Center for Spiritual Living to have a loving environment, positive people who can be natural allies, and a spiritual philosophy to ground us on our journey through a meaningful life.

And so it is.

I Am An Evolving Mystic

I am an evolving mystic. I am attuned to Spirit and my oneness with Spirit, and know that all life, visible and invisible, is the wholeness of God. I use prayer, meditation, contemplation and silence to patiently listen for the voice within. I center myself throughout the day, observing my thoughts, emotions, actions, and people in a non-judgmental way. As I evolve my consciousness, past the blame game of victimization, through the personal empowerment of using prayer to make life changes, to surrendering to divine guidance and allowing Spirit to live through me, I finally reach complete identification with God -- knowing that I am It. I am an expression of God in action.

As I evolve, I allow my awareness of the Infinite and my place in It to be revealed, step by step. Each day I do soul work to answer these questions: Why was I born? What is the greater meaning and purpose of my life? How am I meant to be of service? As I develop a soul with qualities of humility, dignity, integrity, honor, wisdom, justice, harmony and endurance, I build a soul of STAMINA, strong enough to be in direct contact with God, to listen to and act upon Divine Guidance.

As my soul work continues, I find my highest potential -- to live without fear, to experience divinity, to develop my own healing power, and to evoke my Inner Mystic.

And so it is.

Evoking Our Inner Mystic - Part III

Continuing with the class, Practical Mysticism, we focused on the lessons of the Sufi mystic, Rumi, who lived 700 years ago. He is someone who experienced the merging into that bliss of divine love, and wrote some of the world’s most beautiful poetry.

Born in 1207 in Afghanistan, the son of a theologian and mystic, he became a teacher.
In 1244, he met the wandering mystic Shams of Tabriz, who he recognized as a kindred spirit.

 They spent months together in what is described as pure ecstatic communion. Shams served as spiritual guru and they shared a pure unselfish love mixed with reverence.

Rumi came to understand that love for the teacher, the Beloved, is simply divine love, love for our own inner self. God is the Beloved Friend, and Shams embodied this Friend.
Shams taught Rumi that God within us is real; we are not separate entities. We are all One.

This intense relationship aroused jealousy  and the story is that Shams disappeared, murdered through a plot involving Rumi’s son.

Rumi’s grief over this loss of his Beloved Friend stimulated his transformation into a mystic artist. Today we celebrate not only his inspired poetry, but his legacy of the Whirling Dervishes.

Rumi poetry is all about love, acknowledging that “God is Love, Lover and Beloved.”
He writes: “Those who don’t feel this Love pulling them like a river, those who don’t drink dawn like a cup of spring water or take in sunset like supper, those who don’t want to change, let them sleep."

He also writes: “There’s no love in me without your being, no breath without that. I once thought I could give up this longing, then thought again. But I couldn’t continue being human."

In his grief and trance-like whirling movement, Rumi disgorged his poetry: “The Lover is ever drunk with love; He is free, he is mad, He dances with ecstasy and delight. Caught by our own thoughts, We worry about every little thing. But once we get drunk on that love, Whatever will be, will be.”

His poetry echoes across the centuries, relevant today. “When your love reaches the core, earth-heavals and bright irruptions spew in the air. the universe becomes one spiritual thing, that simple, love mixing with spirit.”

And so it is.

Evoking Our Inner Mystic - Part II

 

I, along with Rev. Nancy Woods, am in the throes of teaching the class, Practical Mysticism, and we’re continuing to awaken our inner mystics.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, we use the book by Caroly Myss, Enter the Castle, which is inspired by Teresa of Avila, who views the Soul as a castle with seven mansions and much soul work to help our evolution.

The soul is our divine essence, a masterpiece of divinity in miniatures and this soul castle represents our deep inner consciousness. It’s an inner sanctum to gather the strength, clarity and stability to access sublime divine guidance, says Myss.  As we journey into the Castle, we grow to understand the meaning and purpose of our lives. We build soul stamina and endurance.

According to Myss, the reason we have descended into physical life is to unleash the power of our soul upon Earth, and we can strengthen it.

In the lower three mansions, we work to clear our soul of what Myss calls “reptiles,” those interior sufferings of mind, heart and spirit. These are attachments to the physical world that bring pain, distraction, and haunt our thoughts and feelings. They need to be faced and expelled, which is not easy. 

Reptiles can be hatred, jealousy, envy, vengeance, arrogance, dishonesty, vanity, guilt, memories of abuse, inability to forgive, addictions and more. It takes a boot camp of disciplined soul work to expel these venomous, slithering reptiles before we can move along. In the Fourth Mansion, we are purified enough to stretch our soul -- to become a divine container of love.

Traveling through the fifth, sixth and seventh mansions successfully brings us to fearless bliss, united with divine enlightenment.

Quite a journey.

Along the way we encounter Chaos. This may be Divine Chaos, such as a health challenge, death of loved one, earthly disasters or other traumatic events which bring new decisions and directions to our soul’s journey.

For example, a bout with breast cancer twenty years ago prompted my spiritual quest. I found this Center, and never left. Without the chaos and emotional turmoil of that health challenge, which of course I didn’t want, I wouldn’t be here today.

Chaos can also be self-created...to avoid confronting an unpleasant truth. As we examine our actions, reactions, personal choices and motivations, we become aware of how we create chaos to distract ourselves, to cloud reason and create confusion. Perhaps we’re attached to an addiction, and blow up in anger if someone suggests we give it up.

As we examine our attachments, we can ask: "What power do they have over me?
How can I get free? How might it change me to detach?"

A First Mansion challenge is to go through the door of humility. This is not humiliation -- that assault on our self esteem when someone demeans us. No, this is being humble, detached from the need for praise, or approval or the need to win. It’s listening for divine guidance and following it. 

We detach, as Myss says, from everyday “earthbound madness.” As we liberate ourselves from the fear of humiliation we can live a “wildly free life.”

I’d like that. Wouldn’t you?  And so it is.

Evoking Our Inner Mystic

I've been teaching a class, Practical Mysticism, with Rev. Nancy Woods at our Center for Spiritual Living. We have a great group and we’re definitely working to awaken our inner mystics, to evolve as mystics.

So, what exactly IS a mystic?  When I first heard the word, I thought of that Walt Disney film, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, where Mickey Mouse is left alone to mind the sorcerer’s habitat, gets the mops and brooms dancing and the water sloshing until things get out of hand, and the sorcerer arrives in the nick of time to stop the disaster in progress.

No, we’re not learning to be sorcerers. According to Ernest Holmes, a mystic is one who intuitively--intuitively -- perceives Truth and, with mental process, arrives at Spiritual Realization. Mystics are so attuned to Spirit that they are totally convinced of their oneness with the infinite and know that all life, visible and invisible, is the wholeness of God.

We can all evolve as mystics. Evolving mystics use prayer, meditation, contemplation  and silence to patiently listen for the voice within. Evolving mystics practice the presence, or remember to center themselves throughout the day. They also observe their thoughts, emotions, actions and everyday situations and people in a non-judgmental way.

It’s all about evolving our consciousness -- past the powerless blame game of victimization, through the personal empowerment of using prayer to make life changes, to surrendering to divine guidance by allowing Spirit to live through us, and finally to complete identification with God -- the knowing that I am It, I am an expression of God in action.

Basically, as we evolve we allow our awareness of the infinite and our place in it to be revealed, step by step. We use a book by Carolyn Myss, Enter the Castle, which is inspired by the work of Teresa of Avila, a 15th century nun. Teresa views the Soul as a castle with many rooms and much soul work to help our evolution.

Today’s mystics can be anyone; there is no need for monasteries. We seek a partnership with God to answer these questions: "Why was I born? What is the greater purpose and meaning of my life? How am I meant to be of service?" The process is meant to build a soul of stamina, to develop our own healing power.

And what exactly is our soul? It’s not our mind, or even our subconscience.  Its our essence, our deep inner consciousness, that part of us that desires to be strong enough for direct contact with God, to be able to listen to and act upon divine guidance. A soul with the qualities of humility, dignity, integrity, honor, wisdom,, justice, harmony and endurance -- that, according to Carolyn Myss, is a soul with STAMINA.

And as we journey into the Castle with this class, that is our ultimate destination -- to find our highest potential, to live without fear -- to experience divinity, to evoke our Inner Mystic.

And so it is.

New Year

The big ball has fallen in Times Square, and we're already into the New Year - 2015. To quote Sarah Ban Breathnach on brainyquote.com: “New Year’s Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery. Today carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in which to dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change.”

So, do you have a dream for 2015? Something expansive? Large? Or not so large. Something you always wanted to do, be or have? Something where you go beyond limits. The New Year awaits your inspiration.

The holidays this year were my inspiration for my latest photo book. It was a gift to my grandson, Samuel, for his birthday. I made one for his sister’s birthday in August, so of course he had to have one. It’s filled with photos of him from 2014 with accompanying poems. It was quite a project, and definitely worth it to see his expression as he looked through the book with his Dad.

A book like this shows that he is much loved, much valued in this world.

My daughter and her family visited, and it was lovely having them around. Christmas is magical with children anticipating opening the many gifts scattered around the tree. We enjoyed a holiday feast with all the trimmings on Christmas Eve, the opening of many, but not all the gifts, and  a plate of cookies and cup of milk set out for Santa in anticipation of a few more gifts in the morning.

Photo books are my special legacy, and a creative way to mark one’s passage through life.

As Stephen Spielberg is quoted: “All of us every single year, we're a different person. I don't think we're the same person all our lives.” Certainly Samuel is not the same person he was in 2013, or 2012, or any other year since his birth.

And neither are we. In conversations with the family, we discussed my living on my own and somewhat overwhelmed at times taking care of the home in which everyone but me has left. Kids grew up. Husband made his transition. And here I am. Living in an “artifact,” said my son-in-law. Perhaps it is time to move. he suggested.

That gave me pause. I hadn’t thought that I was living in an artifact, which is an object remaining from an earlier period. Yes, the house is an artifact, and I’ve been in the throes of decluttering the accumulated stuff and things --many many artifacts -- from the forty some years I, and my family, lived in the house.

So this is a new year, with new decisions and new challenges. I’m still digesting the “artifact” description of my home, and deciding what to do about it. But whatever I do, or whatever any of us do in this new year of 2015, here’s another quote, from British author Neil Gaiman: “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.”

So let's do something. Let's try new things. Let's make mistakes. Let's live, learn and grow.

And so it is.