Convergence of Soul and Mind

I move toward union, or uniformity in my being, allowing the clarity of my soul and the murkiness of my mind to converge. I release any whimpering, complaining or blame; rather, I take responsibility for my ideas, and I implement them. I am proactive in the world. I take action.

As I bring more spirit power into my thinking, I am a catalyst for change--in my life and in the lives of others. I dare to be myself; I step into my own innate genius, to express myself in Freedom, and know that I am an expression of God in action here on this plane of existence. I set my word in motion to manifest what I desire to see in my life and in the lives of others. I know that I can do, be and have anything I desire as the clarity of spirit converges with the murkiness of my thinking to lift me toward total clarity, toward personal and spiritual growth and empowerment.

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

What Does Love Mean?

Today is Valentine’s Day. Love is in the air, and candy, flowers and and fancy cards are being sent and received ...  in the name of St. Valentine.

Yes, Valentine’s Day is named after a saint. According to legend, he was a priest in the time of Emperor Claudius II in third century Rome. Claudius decided that single, rather than married, men were better suited for battle. So he outlawed marriage for young men...as they were his potential pool of soldiers. Valentine rebelled against this decree, and performed marriages for young lovers in secret. But when discovered, he was imprisoned and sentenced to death.

While in prison, the legend goes, he fell in love with the jailer's daughter and sent her a farewell letter before he was beheaded. He signed it "from your Valentine." Thus...the first Valentine, associated with romantic, passionate love.

But love goes beyond this concept of the romantic love. As Ernest Holmes says."Love is an essence, an atmosphere, which defies analysis, as does Life Itself. It is that which IS and cannot be explained...The essence of love, while elusive, pervades everything, fires the heart, stimulates the emotions, renews the soul and proclaims the spirit. Only love knows love, and love knows only love."

I received an email the other day entitled,  “What Does Love Mean? See How 4-8 Year-Old Kids Describe Love.” The article has been around for awhile; perhaps you’ve received it.  Supposedly a group of professionals asked four to eight-year old children, “What does love mean?” The 20 responses were deeper than expected and quite moving.

For example, a six-year old responded:: "If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.”   We could all use that one, even on a global scale. No doubt the world would be a better place.

I love this response by an eight-year old: "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." 

It reminded me of the time I was caring for my husband before he transitioned. When he was in bed for the night he would say, “Thank you darling, for everything you did for me today. I love you.” The first time he said that I was taken aback; where did that come from? But no matter. It felt good.  And I began saying it back to him. We had forgotten to say “I love you”  to each other. It made those final weeks more loving and easier.

These words are from a seven-year old:   "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." 

Yes. That reminded me of Christmas with my daughter and her family. We went to Palm Springs for the holiday; I bought a beautiful pop-up Christmas tree from the Internet and we took it to Palm Springs with a bag of gifts, mostly for the kids, ages seven and ten. And it was wonderful fun to see them opening the gifts, playing with the dancing robot I found at the mall, and then just sitting around, enjoying the family time and the love that was in the room.

A four-year-old said: "Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.” So even when we’re tired  from whatever challenges we’re experiencing, that love for those we hold most dear can, as Ernest Holmes says, fire the heart and renew the soul. We can still smile when we’re loved and loving.

The response judged most caring was that of a four-year-old whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

Sometimes, that’s all we need.

And so it is.

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.