Sorry, I forgot to post this for you. I sent it to The Wellspring subscribers (my newsletter) but did not post it here.
Part Four of ‘A Spiritual Holiday’
May every challenge in your life
be a stepping stone to resolution and Inner Peace.
Energetically Hope is an iridescent, all color, grid structure that configures in your life with your direction and intention. Its structure is two fold:
1) Hope incorporated into your daily, inner practice allows you to post your dreams and expectations before you for review. Your mind now clear of distractions can review What Is for meaning and validity.
2) Hope gives you structure to hold onto as you let go, Trust and journey towards personal fulfillment.
Knowledge is comfort. Knowledge shared births Hope.
The year 2008 was especially challenging. We began the year expecting the economy to improve. There was a greater overall optimism about financial decisions individuals were making with their investments and home purchases. Statistics indicate that many more Americans at the beginning of 2008 than today approved of the military decisions of the U.S. government and had Faith in how their lives would unfold. In fact, worldwide what was once peaceful and we assumed resolved, is probably no longer settled and wrought with confusion.
Without going into too many specifics, our expectations have been shifted and in many cases the reality of how we live has changed in ways we could never have anticipated. The challenges we are facing have driven deep into the Heart of our lives affecting the poor, the middle class and the wealthy. A massive leveling is occurring and the global community is One in its participation and fear about what the future holds.
Change is a challenge to our stability and sense of self, and the fear factor worldwide has destabilized multiple areas of our lives. The number one strain on a personal relationship is the stress and fear created during a financial crisis. Families are being uprooted with the loss of jobs and homes. Many expectations and dreams are being altered or destroyed. Stories of loss are rampant. Whether we feel personally devastated or not, we all know someone who is.
It is becoming more and more difficult to maintain balance in one’s life. Physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being are all aspects of the self that have tilted out of balance creating discord and disharmony. When this happens physical health issues begin to arise and relationships suffer. Those mired in personal crisis or feelings of loss can feel overwhelmed, depressed, and lose themselves completely in addictive self-destructive behaviors such as obsessive thinking, suicidal feelings, over eating or drug/alcohol abuse.
There is a way out…It comes in small, deliberate steps that move from inside a challenge, out. These first cautious but brave steps begin the journey into the Best of What Can Be. Our answers are always being offered to us. It is our choice whether we listen and walk towards resolution or not, whether we tune ourselves to resolution or more of the familiar suffering.
The only way out is In. This means that to resolve the very twisted configuration we have created to find ourselves we will have to know our challenges for what they truly are. Today we are being invited to find the strength of character, integrity, and Compassion that has always been ours but been buried under the international driving lust for material gain and power. We are meant to live in harmony with each other and nature. When we lose our footing and walk the path of independent selfish gain, everybody loses. Our Hearts close. Compassion dies for others. Suffering becomes epidemic.
But…2009 is the Year of Hope and Promises Fulfilled. The opportunity for resolution is here! Everything is aligned for our success. We come to a time in our evolution as human beings when we realize that to not get this right for ourselves is to devastate our planet. If we can find the Inner Peace we need to live in harmony with ourselves, we can offer it to others – and the Goodness Within will be the model for others to follow.
Everyone wants to be well, to feel accomplished and to be Loved. Aspire to be Hopeful and to fulfill the brightest of Promises for yourself – and share your personal work with others. Be a messenger of Hopefulness.
Let’s intend to be the best we can be, in order to save the world!
A tall order? Not at all! Everything begins at the beginning. What you accomplish for yourself, you do for the world. This is what the 21st century with its technology and spirituality is offering us. Our interconnectedness allows us to share anything and everything that we do. The powerful connections of those involved with the internet and social networking is proof of how our technological advances have been molded to answer our need for community. The more desperate the times, the more we need each other. And when one of us intends for Hope and Healing, every one of us benefits in some way from that intention. Who we become is who others become. Inner Peace shared grows quantumly. Let’s all be a part of the wave of Hope reconfiguring our lives.
Here is what is calling us:
The opportunity is here for us to look at everything that is wrong or could go wrong in our lives, to learn to manage these things, to be infinitely wiser than we are today, and then to make wiser decisions than we have to date.
Make a study of Hope.
Be Hope Full.
Decide to be the best you can be.
Act in Compassionate ways.
Share Joy.
Show Love at all times.
Be a Messenger of Hope.
This is the year to set yourself on a trajectory – and Trust!
Social Network Posting
Friday, January 23, 2009
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Thriving in the Worst of Times
Part Three: Trust Everything is in Divine Order
One thing we can all agree upon…These are troubling times.
We have discussed how important it is to acknowledge our resistance and to move through it with the intention to be totally non-resistant to What Is.
We have looked at how fear can either paralyze us or trigger rash, impulsive action.
We have begun to realize the importance of living life with our eyes and Heart open – and now we come to a new spiritual option in these lessons: to Trust that everything is in Divine Order.
A New Paradigm is Emerging
We are at the doorstep of a new paradigm. As we move from a society with a survival formula based on violence and domination to one based on peace and compassion – all things are unraveling that must to lay the foundation for the New Earth.
The belief in the Law of the Jungle is dying. ‘Survival of the fittest,’ a phrase created by Charles Darwin, has been a guiding mantra for many generations now. In order to survive as a species, Darwin theorized we had to be dominating and violent. But this has never been true! At Heart, we are not this way – and never have been. The gross majority of us aspire to be cooperative, compassionate and nurturing towards each other. The jungle does not even live by this law. Lion’s do not hunt other lions. They hunt other animals who are meek or sick – very effectively removing the weakest links in the evolutionary chain!
Charles Darwin, an upper classman in the Victorian society of the mid 1800’s, created the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ to slightly alter the evolutionary theory submitted to him by an admirer who was a naturalist and part of the lower class. This man named Alfred Russell Wallace called his evolutionary theory the ‘elimination of the weakest.’ Now before you cringe and side with Darwin’s power spin on Wallace’s words, let’s look at what he meant.
‘Elimination of the Weakest’
(a greatly simplified explanation)
We do not kill the weakest in own communities but those with genetic weaknesses usually slip away from us dying young without procreating. The traits that do not serve our highest good as a species do not repeat themselves. This is natural selection at its best, or in other words, a natural elimination of the weakest.
Wallace’s theory implied Trust and the presence of a spiritual influence – something that had no place in the scientific climate of the era. His phraseology implied a whole different evolutionary course. Here we see those traits that do not serve us, those that threaten our survival dropping away or being eliminated from our evolutionary story. There is no brutality implied just a gentle slipping away.
Seeing the Illusion
…And this is what is happening today. The factions of our society whether they be people, institutions or ways of thinking are being eliminated. A restructuring is occurring difficult only for those resisting that which is unfolding. The foundation we have created for ourselves is illusionary. It is based on theories that have been held high and revered as we moved through an era of our growth as a species. It has served its purpose creating the cold, driving industrial revolution and the scientific developments that made the material world, the only world.
The past 150 years have taken us to new heights but left our spiritual, compassionate nature split off from us. The blessings of Sunday worship and the meaningful actions of spiritual communities – all dissolve on Monday morning in the very aggressive, independent, kill-or-be-killed work environment. But no longer…
What To Do in Challenging Times
Since we are still uncomfortable and unsure of how to Be on this New Earth, we are faced with personal and societal challenges. Challenging times require meaningful action. This type of action moves us towards the end goal of the new compassionate/cooperative based world emerging.
In order for you to be able to Surrender to What Is and to Trust everything is in Divine Order, you have to perform a few simple but important tasks that support your own evolution as a contributing resident of the New Earth.
1) You will have to right what you perceive to be wrong to the best of your ability.
2) You may want to confer with someone you Trust in your community to review your challenge for anything you may have overlooked.
3) It is only then that you can Surrender to What Is and Trust everything is in Divine Order.
It is in your Trust that you can finally relax and feel some Inner Peace. (You can not get this wrong because if there is something you need to resolve personally, it will resurface in your life. This resurfacing will be more dramatic than last time around. This will happen not to punish you, but to show you that there is more work to be done on your part.)
To be clear…Sometimes situations are beyond our ability to manage.
When we do not have enough facts to make a wise decision and those facts are not available to us, we have to Trust.
If we acquire information that we think will assist us in making a decision but it is beyond our understanding, we have to Trust.
If we feel confused and ask for assistance and resolution can still not be found, we have to Trust.
The aspects of our lives that no longer serve us are falling apart and dropping away. Let them go! What supported us yesterday are today’s weakest links. Let them be eliminated. All is as it should be. Trust everything is in Divine Order.
There will be time to act, but that time is not in this moment.
………………………………………………………………………………………
Next Posting...Part Four: Acting When Called to Do So
One thing we can all agree upon…These are troubling times.
We have discussed how important it is to acknowledge our resistance and to move through it with the intention to be totally non-resistant to What Is.
We have looked at how fear can either paralyze us or trigger rash, impulsive action.
We have begun to realize the importance of living life with our eyes and Heart open – and now we come to a new spiritual option in these lessons: to Trust that everything is in Divine Order.
A New Paradigm is Emerging
We are at the doorstep of a new paradigm. As we move from a society with a survival formula based on violence and domination to one based on peace and compassion – all things are unraveling that must to lay the foundation for the New Earth.
The belief in the Law of the Jungle is dying. ‘Survival of the fittest,’ a phrase created by Charles Darwin, has been a guiding mantra for many generations now. In order to survive as a species, Darwin theorized we had to be dominating and violent. But this has never been true! At Heart, we are not this way – and never have been. The gross majority of us aspire to be cooperative, compassionate and nurturing towards each other. The jungle does not even live by this law. Lion’s do not hunt other lions. They hunt other animals who are meek or sick – very effectively removing the weakest links in the evolutionary chain!
Charles Darwin, an upper classman in the Victorian society of the mid 1800’s, created the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ to slightly alter the evolutionary theory submitted to him by an admirer who was a naturalist and part of the lower class. This man named Alfred Russell Wallace called his evolutionary theory the ‘elimination of the weakest.’ Now before you cringe and side with Darwin’s power spin on Wallace’s words, let’s look at what he meant.
‘Elimination of the Weakest’
(a greatly simplified explanation)
We do not kill the weakest in own communities but those with genetic weaknesses usually slip away from us dying young without procreating. The traits that do not serve our highest good as a species do not repeat themselves. This is natural selection at its best, or in other words, a natural elimination of the weakest.
Wallace’s theory implied Trust and the presence of a spiritual influence – something that had no place in the scientific climate of the era. His phraseology implied a whole different evolutionary course. Here we see those traits that do not serve us, those that threaten our survival dropping away or being eliminated from our evolutionary story. There is no brutality implied just a gentle slipping away.
Seeing the Illusion
…And this is what is happening today. The factions of our society whether they be people, institutions or ways of thinking are being eliminated. A restructuring is occurring difficult only for those resisting that which is unfolding. The foundation we have created for ourselves is illusionary. It is based on theories that have been held high and revered as we moved through an era of our growth as a species. It has served its purpose creating the cold, driving industrial revolution and the scientific developments that made the material world, the only world.
The past 150 years have taken us to new heights but left our spiritual, compassionate nature split off from us. The blessings of Sunday worship and the meaningful actions of spiritual communities – all dissolve on Monday morning in the very aggressive, independent, kill-or-be-killed work environment. But no longer…
What To Do in Challenging Times
Since we are still uncomfortable and unsure of how to Be on this New Earth, we are faced with personal and societal challenges. Challenging times require meaningful action. This type of action moves us towards the end goal of the new compassionate/cooperative based world emerging.
In order for you to be able to Surrender to What Is and to Trust everything is in Divine Order, you have to perform a few simple but important tasks that support your own evolution as a contributing resident of the New Earth.
1) You will have to right what you perceive to be wrong to the best of your ability.
2) You may want to confer with someone you Trust in your community to review your challenge for anything you may have overlooked.
3) It is only then that you can Surrender to What Is and Trust everything is in Divine Order.
It is in your Trust that you can finally relax and feel some Inner Peace. (You can not get this wrong because if there is something you need to resolve personally, it will resurface in your life. This resurfacing will be more dramatic than last time around. This will happen not to punish you, but to show you that there is more work to be done on your part.)
To be clear…Sometimes situations are beyond our ability to manage.
When we do not have enough facts to make a wise decision and those facts are not available to us, we have to Trust.
If we acquire information that we think will assist us in making a decision but it is beyond our understanding, we have to Trust.
If we feel confused and ask for assistance and resolution can still not be found, we have to Trust.
The aspects of our lives that no longer serve us are falling apart and dropping away. Let them go! What supported us yesterday are today’s weakest links. Let them be eliminated. All is as it should be. Trust everything is in Divine Order.
There will be time to act, but that time is not in this moment.
………………………………………………………………………………………
Next Posting...Part Four: Acting When Called to Do So
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Thriving in the Worst of Times
Part Two: Resist Nothing
A chaotic tornado whips through most of our lives today taking away our sense of comfort and Inner Peace. It is tearing everything away and redistributing and restructuring What Is. Yesterday’s assumptions are being dashed against economic instability and our personal losses. Global changes to What Is have affected each and every one of us.
But this means opportunity abounds! because everything is being scattered, redistributed and redirected. You can either Surrender and ride with the wind – or not. We are all going for this crazy ride regardless!
Resist Nothing
We have been taught to listen to our fear. Our vigilance keeps us safe. This is true in the physical world, but when meeting challenges from a broader spiritual perspective, the rules are slightly different. We have to look behind and into our fear. As spiritual beings living on Earth, we must Trust our instincts, and at the same time, resist nothing spiritually.
Here is a beginning explanation of how to do this:
Do your best to be fully present in your life. Presume everything that touches your life is absolutely essential for your personal growth.
This goes not mean you are supposed to dive into or embrace everything that crosses your path. It means that in order to be fully present in life, you should aspire to being aware of everything that is happening.
Imagine yourself as being fully of the world and of the day that has been gifted to you. Allow every aspect of your life, whether you label it ‘positive’ or ‘negative,’ to be expressed even if you find this difficult. Listen openly to What Is without judgment or expectations.
Fear is Here
There are two ways that fear can manifest in your life. Both start with confusion and end in either painful inaction or impulsive action. Either way the response is inauthentic and reaps an outcome off target from that which you originally intended.
Let’s look at these two responses more closely.
Confusion and Painful Inaction
Sometimes our fear confuses our ability to think or emote our way out of our challenges, and we are paralyzed.
When fear inhibits your actions, you go into mental or emotional overload, can not process the specifics of What Is – and stop moving completely. Your fear of your perceived choices clouds your ability to see the Truth or the Divine inner core of What Is. You dig in your heels, close your eyes and refuse to step forward into what you think is dangerous.
But the people behind you on the road of life will be bumping into you, and then inevitably circling around you and continuing their lives. If you choose painful inaction, you will feel bruised and alone, the loss of your traveling companions obvious. Although this choice will feel painful, it will also feel familiar.
Confusion and Impulsive Action
Other times our fear confuses our ability to think or emote our way out of our challenges, and we act inappropriately or impulsively.
When fear distorts your actions, and you bolt into an impulsive or dramatic response to feel safe, you will overshoot the Divine inner core of What Is. You will undoubtedly feel a level of resolve, but it will be short lived because your demons will catch up to you, and your fear will be resurrected.
This will happen not because you are being punished (that would be a perception not a Truth) but because you are Divinely Loved and have not received the message that is being gifted to you. The gift was actually embedded in the fear!
As with the response of paralyzed inaction, where you can feel alone and abandoned, on the impulsive action trajectory, you can feel likewise. In this instance, you can overshoot your companions (and clear thinking!) and feel alone – and again, this would feel familiar to you.
As a spiritual seeker you are meant to act wisely and independently, but this never creates loss or abandonment.
Do your best to receive the world As Is.
Everything in your life is processed through your life experience and will trigger your unique response. It is the resistance that the spiritual seeker recognizes with respect, journals around, and then responds to wisely.
Your assignments then as a seeker are to 1) receive everything, 2) acknowledge What Is with eyes and Heart open, 3) reflect and journal.
Whatever your response, it is about you not the event itself because absolutely everything is in Divine Order.
Resist nothing.
Drop into fear and confusion.
Move beyond painful inaction and impulsive actions.
Find a deeper understanding.
Next Posting...Part Three: Trust Everything is in Divine Order
A chaotic tornado whips through most of our lives today taking away our sense of comfort and Inner Peace. It is tearing everything away and redistributing and restructuring What Is. Yesterday’s assumptions are being dashed against economic instability and our personal losses. Global changes to What Is have affected each and every one of us.
But this means opportunity abounds! because everything is being scattered, redistributed and redirected. You can either Surrender and ride with the wind – or not. We are all going for this crazy ride regardless!
Resist Nothing
We have been taught to listen to our fear. Our vigilance keeps us safe. This is true in the physical world, but when meeting challenges from a broader spiritual perspective, the rules are slightly different. We have to look behind and into our fear. As spiritual beings living on Earth, we must Trust our instincts, and at the same time, resist nothing spiritually.
Here is a beginning explanation of how to do this:
Do your best to be fully present in your life. Presume everything that touches your life is absolutely essential for your personal growth.
This goes not mean you are supposed to dive into or embrace everything that crosses your path. It means that in order to be fully present in life, you should aspire to being aware of everything that is happening.
Imagine yourself as being fully of the world and of the day that has been gifted to you. Allow every aspect of your life, whether you label it ‘positive’ or ‘negative,’ to be expressed even if you find this difficult. Listen openly to What Is without judgment or expectations.
Fear is Here
There are two ways that fear can manifest in your life. Both start with confusion and end in either painful inaction or impulsive action. Either way the response is inauthentic and reaps an outcome off target from that which you originally intended.
Let’s look at these two responses more closely.
Confusion and Painful Inaction
Sometimes our fear confuses our ability to think or emote our way out of our challenges, and we are paralyzed.
When fear inhibits your actions, you go into mental or emotional overload, can not process the specifics of What Is – and stop moving completely. Your fear of your perceived choices clouds your ability to see the Truth or the Divine inner core of What Is. You dig in your heels, close your eyes and refuse to step forward into what you think is dangerous.
But the people behind you on the road of life will be bumping into you, and then inevitably circling around you and continuing their lives. If you choose painful inaction, you will feel bruised and alone, the loss of your traveling companions obvious. Although this choice will feel painful, it will also feel familiar.
Confusion and Impulsive Action
Other times our fear confuses our ability to think or emote our way out of our challenges, and we act inappropriately or impulsively.
When fear distorts your actions, and you bolt into an impulsive or dramatic response to feel safe, you will overshoot the Divine inner core of What Is. You will undoubtedly feel a level of resolve, but it will be short lived because your demons will catch up to you, and your fear will be resurrected.
This will happen not because you are being punished (that would be a perception not a Truth) but because you are Divinely Loved and have not received the message that is being gifted to you. The gift was actually embedded in the fear!
As with the response of paralyzed inaction, where you can feel alone and abandoned, on the impulsive action trajectory, you can feel likewise. In this instance, you can overshoot your companions (and clear thinking!) and feel alone – and again, this would feel familiar to you.
As a spiritual seeker you are meant to act wisely and independently, but this never creates loss or abandonment.
Do your best to receive the world As Is.
Everything in your life is processed through your life experience and will trigger your unique response. It is the resistance that the spiritual seeker recognizes with respect, journals around, and then responds to wisely.
Your assignments then as a seeker are to 1) receive everything, 2) acknowledge What Is with eyes and Heart open, 3) reflect and journal.
Whatever your response, it is about you not the event itself because absolutely everything is in Divine Order.
Resist nothing.
Drop into fear and confusion.
Move beyond painful inaction and impulsive actions.
Find a deeper understanding.
Next Posting...Part Three: Trust Everything is in Divine Order
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