Tag: belief

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Following Your Heart

While away on a break from writing original posts I thought I’d share some of my favorites with you from the past three and a half years. In mid-March I’ll return with more original posts. Until then, please enjoy these.

Have you heard the expression, ‘follow your heart’?

What does it mean to you? How would you go about explaining it to someone else?

If you were asked whether you follow your heart or not, what would you say?

Since we can’t have a two-way dialogue at the moment, I’ll share what it means to me and then ask you another few questions.

A defining idea surfaces.

Is there a practical way to tell the difference between what your mind wants and what your heart wants? That feels like a tricky question for sure.

To me, the things that satisfy my mind bring me happiness, while those things that nourish my heart bring me joy. These two sensations feel entirely different. And while I like the ones that offer happiness, I love the ones that bring me joy.

Following my head (mind) prompts me to accomplish things by way of meeting or exceeding my objectives. I admit I have a tendency to grade or rate each of my experiences and I spend time evaluating them, wondering if I could have done better.

Unfortunately, when I don’t achieve what I set out to accomplish, I am often unhappy and can at times question my worth. While this is happening, I do recognize what a poor choice I’m making, so I try to create triggers within the experience. The triggers are sort of like check points, where I can shift away from my head and view things from my heart and my spirit.

But what does this mean and how can one shift?

A way that works for me is to stop once I recognize a trigger and observe how I am feeling. Is an experience making me angry, anxious, afraid, irritated? Is it providing me with a sense of temporary pleasure or a fleeting glimpse of happiness which I know will not last? If so, these signal me that I am focused on my mind and it’s time to adjust, to shift toward something more real.

When I follow my heart, I notice I set up aims, which are looser than goals. They flex and adapt, and I can experience life, finding what feels like open, free, flavorful experiences. Ones that I can savor and not lose. They last. They become ‘keepers’.

Recently I’ve been struggling with a set of decisions regarding which projects from my list I want to move forward with. Every time I begin the process I’m faced with a series of obstacles. They block my path, and I cannot see over, around or beyond them.

Fortunately, a knowing part of me realizes that obstacles represent triggers too, so I allow myself to move deeper into my heart, knowing it is my mind that is having the problem.

As so often happens, I call out for help from Lia, a divine feminine voice that lives within me. She awaits me at all times and is ever present in my life. I believe she is awaiting each of us, ready to share once we ask for her assistance.

Although I ordinarily gain valuable insights quickly, I discovered that I needed a series of conversations over several days to reach far enough below the surface to unveil what I needed to hear. Lia is always patient with me, giving me time to uncover for myself what I so desperately feel I need. In this case, she led me forward until I could see with crystal clarity. She offered me an image I could hold on to and use whenever I felt at a crossroad.

It was a bracelet with two charms hanging from it. One was labeled, ‘fear’ and the other, ‘love’. She said that no matter what I encountered in my life, my experience would be guided by the choice I made between fear and love.

I wanted to know more. I wanted to feel what kind of difference this choice would make, particularly when I reimagined the projects I’d been considering. So, I found my list and asked myself what would be the outcome if in each case I chose to look at them with love.

I know this sounds simple. I also know simple things are often profound.

When I reviewed my list, everything fell into place. Rather than feeling confused, everything was clear to me, and I now know what to do.

So here are my follow up questions for you.

Is there a way for you to imagine wearing a bracelet with two charms, one ‘fear’ and the other ‘love’? Can you use love to find a way forward, no matter what the situation is? Can you use your heart (and your spirit) to lead your way forward?

I hope you can.

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Somehow Everything Serves Me

While away on a break from writing original posts I thought I’d share some of my favorites with you from the last three and a half years. In mid-March I’ll return with more original posts. Until then, please enjoy these.

Does this seem like a radical statement and unlikely to be true? Is it enough to shy away from even reading this post or is there a chance that you hope that it is true and want to know more?

For the majority of my life I would have said ‘yes’, it is a radical statement and ‘yes’, it’s unlikely to be true. I would have followed that up with answering that ‘yes’, it is enough to make me move on and ‘no’, I don’t want to know any more. I know enough already.

I felt it would take a major shift to change my outlook, one I did not believe was possible.

I’d suffered numerous outcomes in my life that I could broadly describe as ‘bad or negative’. Things had happened that hurt me and distanced me from others. I’d fallen and failed and frozen in place and thought to myself, what good can ever come from ‘this’, whatever ‘this’ was.

Perhaps you’ve experienced your own challenges, pain, frustration and resentments in your life. Many are probably the ‘fault’ of others or fall loosely into the category, ‘it is what it is’. Some problems may be the result of actions you’ve taken or not taken. Others are because of words exchanged, sometimes in the heat of the moment.

When I first considered the statement that, ‘somehow everything serves me’, I wondered, how could this be true? How could something so painful or which felt so wrong, ever offer me any benefit or value?

I discovered that asking this question out loud or thinking it inside of me was a part of the wall that separated me from an answer. Asking this implies, at least to some extent, that I don’t believe that everything could possibly serve me. And, if I already held that opinion, there was no room for any benefit or value to show itself.

There was another hurdle to jump over.

What did the statement mean to me when it said, ‘serves me?’ Did that mean that there should be some obvious connection I could see that linked a ‘negative’ experience with an eventual ‘positive’ result? And, how exactly would I be ‘served’? Would I even notice?

I find I learn best when I have an example to follow. I promised myself to remain open to the idea that it could be possible that somehow everything serves me. I promised to be observant, during the search and afterward, in watching for the benefit or value as it was brought my way.

I felt it would be a good idea to choose something big as my example. Something with a little meat on it. It turns out that wasn’t all that difficult.

I lost my job. By lost, I mean that it was taken away from me. One day I had it and the next day I didn’t. I’ve read that this rates as the #5 most stressful experience in life and I can see why. It changes everything; financial, emotional, social, intellectual, physical, you name it.

I confess my initial reaction was one of being totally overwhelmed, and I believe that tears were involved. There was only the very smallest part of me that held out any hope that this might ‘serve me’.

I came to realize that it’s possible to stand too close to a situation and that you have to take a few steps backward to be able to see clearly.

As the days went by, I kept my promise to remain open. I allowed myself to grieve and release the heavy weight of my emotions then move on with a watchful eye. I found that I could stand far enough away and make decisions that would help move me forward. I took a critical look at our finances and made sweeping changes. I opened to receive an offer for a new job, even though it wasn’t a part of my original plan. I made concessions and tried to rewrite my story.

Months passed and there they were, sitting right in front of me. A whole host of benefits. I had a new job which offered me the chance for achievable results. I had dramatically reduced my work stress level and responsibilities. I had the chance to revise our finances, which set us up for a better future forecast. And best of all, I found a way to retire years before I would have, had I stayed at my old job. This allowed me to spend more time with Maureen and to share in the radiance of babysitting our granddaughter, and then our grandson.

I’ve discovered that, no matter what example I choose, the outcome is the same. I am served by everything that happens to me in my life. This doesn’t mean that everything is rosy and bright. It’s work, most of the time. But, it is work with a huge payoff, far greater than I’d ever thought possible.

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Sitting For Ideas

While on a break from writing original posts I thought I’d share some of my favorites with you from the past three and a half years. In mid-March I’ll return with more original posts. Until then, please enjoy these.

Can you imagine finding a quiet comfortable place to sit, then closing your eyes and peacefully waiting for marvelous ideas to arrive inside your mind? Ideas that would improve your life, offer you specific direction and help you to navigate the world.

There is such a place and it’s inside of every one of us.

One of my favorite mentors is Napoleon Hill. I’ve written about him before and probably mentioned that, when he was a cub reporter, he was given the opportunity to interview Andrew Carnegie, who was one of the wealthiest men in the world.

Carnegie took a liking to Napoleon and extended to him introductions to many of the most successful people in business, finance, and the scientific world. Napoleon would spend his next ten years assembling their best ideas and placing them in his book, Think Big and Grow Rich, which is still one of the top ten best-selling self-help books ever published.

Elmer Gates was one of Napoleon’s interviews. Elmer was a prolific inventor and at the turn of the 20th Century owned the largest private laboratory in the world. Napoleon was curious to know where all his ideas came from. When he arrived at Elmer’s office, the secretary asked him to take a seat and told him it might be a while, because Mr. Gates was ‘sitting for ideas’.

Eventually Elmer came out to meet Napoleon and invited him into his office and explained about his delay. He told Napoleon that when confronted with a problem or seeking a solution for a workable invention, he would ‘sit for ideas’. By this he meant that he would enter a darkened room which had only a desk, a chair, a pencil, a pad, and a flashlight. Without distractions, he would sit and wait for ideas, and when something came to him, he would write it down, then go back to sitting until the next idea came. Elmer told Napoleon that this was how he was able to discover answers and solutions that had evaded his busy waking mind.

Given Elmer Gates enormous success it makes me wonder what I can gain from this strategy.

I’m not immediately drawn to the darkened room approach, and you may not be either, but I feel there is something of significant value here.

Perhaps it is that, releasing distractions, creating a peaceful open environment, and embracing an attitude of expectation are key components to success.

I have little doubt that each of us would be well served by distancing ourselves, for even short periods of time, from life’s distractions. Shifting our environment, whether that is a darkened room, a long hot shower, a walk in nature or a meditation period, would give us time and space that could be greatly beneficial.

For me, there are many mornings when I wake up filled with thoughts and ideas. So many, that I have to begin writing them down the moment they come to me. That’s why there are pads all over my house, so that none of my ideas escape. I refer to this process as my overnight download.

I don’t know where the ideas come from. I could speculate, but what feels important to me is their arrival, not their source.

Elmer Gates is not the only person to take advantage of seeing beyond the observable world. Michelangelo said that every block of stone has a masterpiece inside of it and that the job of the sculptor is to let it out.

I believe that in order to find the masterpiece living inside of each of us we need to open ourselves to a truth. A truth that we are a part of the divine, whole and holy. A truth that every answer exists within us, and it is our task to set it free. Believing this and expecting to discover our answers is the gateway to all ideas becoming real.

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Pep Talk

I have two questions for you. Don’t worry, they’re pretty easy.

The first is…do you believe you know when someone is not telling you the truth?

I can’t say with any sense of confidence that I always can. I think there are many times when others fool me. I might have an impression one way or the other, but I’m not one hundred percent sure.

I wonder what your answer is and how sure you are.

My second question is…do you know when you are telling yourself something untrue?

This one is easier for me, how about you?

I believe I almost always know when I’m trying to convince myself that something is true. There is a certain feeling I experience. A kind of ‘knowing’.

I wonder if you experience this same inner sense.

Okay, so you may be wondering why I asked you these two questions and what it has to do with a ‘pep talk’.

I’ll start by introducing two concepts that are popular in our culture. The first is the idea of ‘fake it until you make it’ and the second is the notion that ‘you can make something come true merely by attempting to manifest or attract it’.

Let me first say that if these work for you, please ignore everything I’m going to say. Somehow, you’ve discovered a way to reap the rewards of this kind of thinking.

But for me, neither idea works as advertised and the main reason is that they both represent lies I would be telling myself. Because I can tell when I’m not being truthful with myself, I cannot create fake feelings or manifest anything I don’t believe possible.

I simply won’t buy this kind of story without some evidence to support it, no matter how much I might want it. If you’re like me, telling yourself a fictional story (ie: that you are rich beyond your wildest dreams) does not make it so. And similarly, trying to convince yourself that you can attract anything just because you would like it to be so, does not work.

Certainly, I have hopes and dreams and want things but in order for me to experience them I need to find a different way.

Here’s the pep talk part.

I believe each of us has incredible promise and potential, in some part received at birth, in other parts taught to us or discovered by us. Capitalizing on what we already have and taking the next step, that is a way forward for each of us.

Asking for help, putting forth effort, taking advantage of opportunities, either presented to us or pursued by us, these are ways to experience what we want in life.

Expecting it to come to us by some mysterious means or without effort on our part seems to me an entirely unrealistic notion.

I firmly believe each of us in capable of taking the next step, whatever it might be, either with others help or because we actively pursue it ourselves. Taking one step leads to taking another and before you know it, you’re taking aim toward what you intend to experience.

I’d like to cheerlead you in this process. I encourage you to take action, no matter the size, then take some more. Don’t worry if the steps are sometimes sideways or backwards, just keeping moving. Congratulate yourself for what you accomplish and savor the experience. And once in a while tell yourself ‘BRAVO’ for your efforts…you are a superstar.

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Blame

I have to admit it…being blaming for something is one of my least favorite things. I don’t like it when I AM the reason for something going wrong and get blamed, but I especially don’t like it when I am NOT the reason.

It seems so unfair, and it hurts. Partly I suppose because it damages my self-image.

And then there are the times I blame others.

One such instance happened recently. My wife and I were away and when we returned our driveway was full of snow. Okay, no problem, we’d just park in the road, I’d get the snowblower going and make quick work of clearing our driveway so we could park safely and unload our stuff.

The problem occurred in my very first pass down the driveway because underneath all of the snow was our newspaper which had been canceled while we were away. It wasn’t supposed to have been there. Naturally snowblowers and heavy newspapers do not get along. Before I could do anything, the newspaper was sucked into the snowblower and jammed beyond my ability to dislodge. Result = one useless snowblower and time to get some physical exercise shoveling.

My first reaction was yelling out loud. Not words exactly, but a lot of loud noise. This has happened before!

This reaction came with a great deal of blame. My wife had called the newspaper to cancel so they either didn’t cancel, or the newspaper carrier delivered one anyway. As far as I was concerned, the newspaper and carrier were both at fault.

And they were both the cause of several unfortunate results; having to shovel heavy wet snow, need to contact snowblower repair folks, cost of the repairs and length of time without it so that if it snows before I get it back, more shoveling for me. All because someone didn’t do their job.

I wanted to hold someone accountable. A part of me wanted them to have to pay for my inconvenience and the repair costs.

I confess it took a while for me to sit back far enough from the blaming to recognize what effect it was having on me. I was angry, frustrated and fuming, all things which prevented me from seeing clearly.

Once I gained a little distance, I saw how my upset was prolonging my negative feelings and delaying me from finding a resolution to the problem.

I had to stop and ask myself an important question. What if life is offering me something of benefit wrapped up in this problem? What if its value is far greater than the cost of the upset and the snowblower repair?

But what could that be?

I really had to work hard to shift my perspective. What made it possible for me was my ultimate belief that everything in my life actually ‘serves’ me in some way. Everything benefits me, no matter how it first appears. These ideas fueled my inner search.

I wondered, what if I accepted that sometimes things happen PERIOD. No one did it on purpose. No one was trying to harm or upset me. What if I just accepted that it happened and could be resolved? What if I did this quickly so that I avoided feeling angry and gave others the benefit of the doubt and didn’t blame them?

How would that change my world?

What if instead of blaming others I forgave them? How much would that save me from suffering? How much better would that be for my mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing?

My answer is…it would fantastic. It would be an extraordinary decision.

I’m not saying that I’m adept at this yet. Clearly not. But what I did discover was that there is another way, a better way and hopefully I’ll choose that next time and save myself a whole lot of misery.

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What is Your Word Worth

On Christmas day I bet my grandson, Evan, $100 that he couldn’t throw his new basketball off their second story deck into his basketball hoop forty feet away. Mind you I’d already tried this twenty times without success, so I didn’t really think there was a strong chance that he’d be able to make the shot. But all sorts of things happen in this world.

After his third unsuccessful attempt he asked me how many more tries he could have. I told him he could keep going as long as he wanted.

On his next shot the ball whisked through the air headed right for the basketball hoop and swished through the net. As expected, he was overjoyed, both because he’d made a difficult shot and because he would be $100 richer.

We both whooped and screamed at his triumph. It was a great moment for each of us to savor.

Of course, you may be wondering what happened next.

Well, I don’t usually carry an extra $100 in cash in my wallet, so I couldn’t give it to him when he ran up to me and asked for his payout. He knew we’d be seeing each other the next day, so I told him he could have it then, which seemed to appease him.

Now, $100 is a pretty significant amount of money and there are those in the world who like to offer promises but have no intentions of delivering. They find ways to wiggle out of their agreements. Adults are particularly adept at this, especially when it comes to comes to children. They make a case that they didn’t really mean it or that they were just kidding, or they’d be happy to pay some lesser amount.

I did not want to be one of these adults.

I want my word to mean something, so that when I give it, others can rely on it, especially children. They are often told untruths, led on with the sole purpose of getting them to comply or they are given something less than promised. This breeds a deep lack of trust and erodes good foundations.

I knew that delivering on my promise was entirely up to me. No one could make me pay up and I could have chosen to convince myself that I was joking about my offer. But what would that teach him about me? What would it teach me about myself?

The next night our extended family was going out to dinner together. When everyone sat down, I asked Evan to come over to me. I took out five twenty-dollar bills and handed them to him. His face lit up. I could tell his nine-year-old brain was contemplating what he could do with his winnings.

I asked him if he thought that I would actually pay him the $100. He looked at me and responded with a ‘yes’. I wanted to satisfy my curiosity, so I asked him what he would have thought if I didn’t keep my word and pay him. He looked straight into my eyes and said, “I would have thought that you don’t tell the truth.”

And there it was. Exactly what I thought. He would have lumped me in with all those who lie to him or those who cannot be trusted.

Deep inside me, I knew without hesitation that this was a defining moment for us. He may not always believe me, but for right now, our foundation is strong, and our eyes can see each other’s truth.

To me, $100 is a small price to pay for his belief in me.

What is your word worth to you?

Does it represent who you are as a person in this world? Can you be counted on to deliver what you promise? Is it important that you live up to your own truth?

My hope is that I can always answer these questions from a place of inner conviction, knowing I have a strong foundation.

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What Can You Hear

Welcome to my first post for 2024. It’s wonderful to have you here with me. I’m constantly surprised and delighted that I am still writing and connecting with you. Back in October 2020 when I began, I had no idea how this would go. I wasn’t even certain that I would be able to manage technologically to maintain my website and process posts for you to see.

So, thank you for being here and for the comments you’ve passed along to me. It really means a lot that you take the time to let me know you’re out there.

During the three plus years I’ve allowed myself to tell you my truth and to share my story, realizing that it was possible that only some of you would remain interested, because it’s not an ordinary story.

But are any of our stories ordinary? Is yours?

I strongly tend to doubt it. We all live such fantastic lives no matter how common they seem at times. When we choose to open ourselves and let our divine essence run free, to explore and experiment, to offer honesty and light to each other, all of our worlds expand.

It took me a lot of years to let go of being small and hiding my light from all but a few. For me, it became necessary to release, to let go of everything that was holding me back.

I wonder, do you ever feel this way? Do you sense an absolute joy deep inside you, but are reluctant to bring it out in the open?

Does that feel too threatening somehow? Too intense? To revealing?

That is actually a large part of why I write these posts. I want to encourage you to step into your own magical, mystical, brilliant light. I know it’s there inside of you waiting. Waiting for you to decide what’s to be gained or lost.

I want to know what you can hear if you listen closely to your heart.

I had to know, no matter what the potential cost would be to me. I had to know for sure. And so, I wrote and wrote and wrote some more, until all of the fluff was gone. Until I was deep enough for the truth to come out, the honesty.

Maybe you need an example, a possible route to follow. When I gave myself permission to reveal my true feelings, this is what happened. I came into contact with god. We spoke to each other. This time it was a male voice. Without having to ask, I knew the voice was also a part of me, not separate, but the same.

I offer this conversation as one way you could begin. There are so many ways, enough so that anyone can find their own depth, their own center and balance.

I wonder what you hear

When you lean in close

Is it the sound of a sweet voice

Can you feel he loves you

Are you filled with hurting

Do you overflow with pain

Do you want to be close

Taken under his wing

Do you dream of belonging

Do you have hope for the future

Has the world often crushed you

Has it broken your heart

Do you need some salvation

Have you trusted the wrong ones

Have you hit lots of dead ends

Is your faith in the dust

Time to know something new

Time to let go this life

Time to open in all ways

To see his beautiful face

Nothing required

And nothing demanded

Just say one word

Just open the door

He is always waiting

He walks beside you

His hand is wide open

To take yours and mine

The dream is for real life

To spend it connected

To love every other

As much as we can

May your pathway become clear, and your truth be revealed. Without needing to know you directly, I can tell you, I love you.

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The Greatest Good

Have you ever wondered what the ‘greatest good’ actually means and how it applies to your life?

In the circles I run in, it’s a pretty commonly used term. Most who use it point to things that happen in life that may at first appear to be ‘negative’, but when viewed from a different perspective, are actually ‘positive’ and yield desirable outcomes.

The trick is to see how this could possibly be true.

Appearances are usually very strong and hard to see beyond and our idea of ‘fairness’ enters the picture, sometimes with a vengeance. We often can’t accept the negative events as integral parts of our lives and don’t see that they can lead to some pretty fantastic results.

This whole process requires a mind shift. In order to see how life is always serving us, we have to be open to new perspectives. That’s a very hard thing when what we’re experiencing is a life that feels so painful.

I’ve struggled with this concept. I’ve had some successes, but also some abysmal failures at seeing into the distance far enough to accept or embrace the challenges I’ve faced as being part of a ‘positive’ path.

I’ve found that it requires constant reminders for me to remain open to the idea that all things work toward my greatest good. One day I decided to write a poem about this so that I’d have something to refer to when times were difficult for me.

It is also often the case that we want to relieve other’s suffering and pain, either directly or indirectly. We want to pray it away or wish it away. The problem is we don’t know what their greatest good is, no matter how perceptive we are.

Today, I’d like to share a poem with you, in the hopes that it might help you on your journey, both for yourself and for those you love.

Here it is, my friends.

There is a real beauty to our lives

Which sometimes fades

In the face of hardship

We feel the loss

And seek to restore our body

And make whole our spirit

Others open to us

Such loving

Beautiful souls

They want to share from their heart

Yet they too face a challenge

How do they live through their expectations

I hear them

They talk about letting go of the outcome

They speak about our highest, our greatest good

This is the tricky part

How is one to know another’s highest good

How is one to know that the greatest good may require

Descending deeper into suffering or sorrow

To follow a dark path before

Arising into bright light

How is one to know what is right for another

Since it can be so hard to see beyond the small slice of life

We become aware of

How do we rise above the challenge of the hoped for improvements

The desire for the lessening of another’s suffering

And the hope for reduction of their pain

Someone offers a consideration for us

They ask us

What about the idea

That the seeker is the one in charge

Of how much healing occurs

They ask us

What about the idea

That it is not the case of what

One is able to channel

As it is what the seeker chooses to allow in

And what of the idea

That the seekers spirit knows

What is best for their body and mind and heart

And that it always chooses wisely

That it is eminently trustworthy

And that the seeker will receive exactly

The right amount of energy

To sustain them

And what of the idea

That it is possible for both the seeker

And the channeler

To trust that the perfect plan is at work

For each of us

All the time

And therefore

To know

To feel certain

That no matter how it seems

Whether the outside pain

Grows or lessens

Intensifies or vanishes

That everything happens

Exactly as it ought

Is that amount of trust within us

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How You Love Me

If you’ve been reading my posts already, you’ll know that I have a very intimate relationship with the divine. We have conversations all the time. It can be when I have loads of time on my hands and we can have an hour or two long dialogues or it can be a brief inner talk while waiting in line somewhere.

I often wonder what you as a reader think when I say things like this.

Do you have your own conversations with the divine, so it seems normal to you? Or do you want to have a dialogue, but aren’t sure if it would work or what you would say or whether the divine would respond to you?

Do you think I am out of my head?

I probably am because I’m more fully in my heart and connected to spirit. I’ve been having conversations for so many years that I don’t think about whether they are real or possible or normal. They just happen.

One of the benefits of this is that I get to share them with you. If you’d like to engage in your own, please do. For me, all that is ‘required’ is to conceive the conversation is possible, to do your best to believe it and then give yourself some time to open, be quiet, then ask the divine to speak with you.

Often, I am overwhelmed with a sense of awe, wonder and a deep connection of love between us. I’d like to share one such ‘conversation’, which was really a love poem offered to me.

“How you love me”

I felt you speak to me

In answer to the opening of my heart

You let me know that the eventual

And ultimate outcome is already certain…

I come back to you

There is nothing quite as beautiful as this

In all of the world

To know you love me so much

That you want me back

In the meantime

It is so wonderful to know that

You do not require, expect or demand

Anything from me

And that your advice

Is just that…

Advice

It is meant to aid me in being happy

For that is what you want

What our dream and reality is about

You suggest

That I treasure each moment

That I accept and love

This moment

The only moment that actually exists

And if there are things I don’t like

To kiss them and let them go

Your voice is soft in saying

Love the moment

And let it go

You hear the noise inside me

And ask me to recognize

That when I feel weight on me

To see it, breathe it and release it

And know that you are not the source of this weight

You are never the source of it

You remind me again

If you don’t like it

Love it and let it go

You counsel

Be attentive

Be aware

Breathe

Remember always to breathe

Remember too

You get to choose

And choosing creates your reality

If it is not what you want

Or who you want to be

Simply choose differently

Until it is consistent

With whom you want to be

And what you want to experience

It may sound too simple

But I hear clearly you say,

Choose on purpose

Choose what you do

And be a reflection of the best you

You can be

And please know this

It is okay

To do it your own way

There is no need to please others

Just be you

And feel good about being you

I know that you know everything

And I am so happy to finally realize

That

I am enough

I have enough

I do enough

And

There is enough of everything

I am content now

Even though

I see only a small piece of the puzzle

I don’t need to know everything any more

What liberation that is to me

I am not responsible to judge anyone

What freedom this brings to me

I thank you for these dawning’s

They help me float above the surface

Of the world

And draw me closer to you

To love

My heart soars

With gratitude.

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Special Connections

One of the most beautiful things about life to me is that anything can become a beautiful divine moment.

It may be momentary, like a dew drop laying on a spider web glistening in the sun. Or it could be a lifetime friendship that begins with one word.

Never knowing feels like part of the magic and mystery. I’ve had lots of these moments during my life. I wait and I watch for them. I encourage them and it feels like more come when I am paying attention to life, rather than getting caught up in daily routines.

I worked for a non-profit agency and one of the opportunities each employee was offered was to wrap Christmas and Hannukah gifts at a local bookstore. Whatever the purchaser paid would be given to our agency to help fund our outreach into the community.

There was a sign-up sheet posted so I decided to book myself for an hour or two. I didn’t know very many of our staff at the time since I was new to the organization. That didn’t matter really because it seemed like such a nice thing to do and maybe I’d get to know someone better.

Well, imagine two strangers sitting waiting for folks to stop by and ask them to wrap presents. What else is there to do but talk? Ordinarily talk is about the weather or what you did over the weekend, not about things that really matter. Not about sharing from your depth with someone you barely know. Not about meeting somewhere in the middle of our earthly existence to see past everything else, to someone’s core. And not about saying out loud what you’ve never said before. Not about showing trust and not about believing someone could care enough to hear what you have to say.

These things just don’t happen.

But, in this case, that’s exactly what did happen.

I met a new friend, Carla, who would become one of my all-time favorite people and despite the fact that we live over a thousand miles away from each other and don’t talk very often, I still know in my heart we are deeply connected.

No subject seemed to be off the table that day while wrapping presents. We moved easily from one subject to the next. And we thoroughly enjoyed interacting with our customers, feeding of each other’s pleasure and the magic of the season.

I enjoyed the experience so much that I cut out a section of the paper we were using to wrap presents and wrote our names and the date on it and placed it on my bulletin board at work. It remained there for the thirteen years I worked there and came home with me.

Is it possible for me to tell anyone else how I’ve changed because someone else trusted me enough to be honest with me? Did I know then what beauty would be mine today because someone shared their truth with me?

It is one of those rare times when the giving and receiving mixed so thoroughly that we could not tell one from the other.

So, what did I learn that day?

Plenty. I learned that when you offer yourself the freedom to be a part of someone else’s life, you always profit, even if for only a moment. I learned that sharing is one of life’s most treasured gifts. I learned that taking one step can lead to a whole lifetime of rewards. I learned that by allowing myself to be honest, open, and trusting, I gain trust, openness, and honesty in return.

And I learned that there is magic and mystery in every moment I am prepared to give myself. I believe this is something worth remembering.