Tag: free will

Posted on

Holding and Releasing

I’ve been thinking about what it means to hold onto things and the value there can be in releasing them.

Here’s a simple, quick test for you.

Stand up and pick up something in each hand, like a book or other small object, then raise both of your arms, stretching them away from your body at shoulder height. Okay, now hold this position for as long as you can. You can also modify this if you can’t stand up at the moment. Simply hold the objects as if you were standing.

It’s incredible to me how fatiguing this exercise can be, despite the limited amount of weight you’re holding. Of course, the fact is, you’re also holding up the weight of each of your arms. After a little research, I discovered a 190-pound persons arms weight about 10 pounds each, which adds to the difficulty of sustained holding.

Why does any of this matter unless you are a body builder and need to increase your strength? Well, for me, it’s because the physical challenge of this exercise has emotional, intellectual, and spiritual ramifications.

How, you ask?

Imagine that instead of physical weights, you substitute something else. Here’s a few examples I’d offer, but if something more personally relevant strikes you, please use it in place of what I’ve provided.

Imagine someone in your life just said something mean to you, or you remember a time a year ago, ten years ago or from your childhood where you felt ignored, abused, or devalued.

If it was easy to conjure up this image, it’s clearly something you’re still holding on to. Something that has weight and the longer you hold it, the heavier it gets. You may think you’ve let it go, but if you still remember it, you probably haven’t.

And what about a time when you couldn’t get something done because it was too hard. You didn’t understand it or didn’t have enough time or a good enough teacher to help you. And because of this, you failed. How heavy is the feeling of failure to you?

Can you visualize a time when your spirit suffered because you felt too weak or too small? Perhaps someone else convinced you that you were not spiritually worthy, not lovable, not valuable. I suspect the weight of this cannot be measured.

So, what is the antidote?

From the title of this post, you may realize that, in my view, it is the act of releasing, of letting go of the weight, setting it down or setting it aside, that is the antidote.

Easier said than done, you might be thinking. Or you may be entertaining the question, how is it possible to release what you are still holding?

As with all things, I believe it begins by making a conscious choice, recognizing that you have the power to choose the direction of your life. The decisions and actions of others are their ‘business’, not yours, and you needn’t have any investment in them.

Because you have ‘free will’, you are in charge of what to keep and what to release, no matter what others tell you. And you are the one to decide if you take anything personally that others say to you. You have the freedom to choose, and you can exercise this freedom in every moment of your life.

Some things that we have absorbed over the years have taken root in us, but we can make a practice of releasing them. Each and every time they surface, we can acknowledge them and the weight they place on us and bid them farewell, knowing they are no longer necessary in our lives. We’ve experienced them enough and can let them go.

This may only take one time, but it may also have to be repeated, before we are free from them.

I wish you well with your practice.

Posted on

The Crossing Ceremony

This is my 198th post. I mention this because I hope you know me by now and that what I choose to write about is personal to me.

I’ve chosen to share the depth of myself and my connection to spirit. I do this so that you can see inside my world and also in the hopes that my sharing may free you to open and allow others to know you, to see you, to learn from you.

We all have so much to offer each other. And the glimpses we choose to give hopefully provide a connection between us, one that increases our awareness and one that builds and cherishes the love we share.

It is in this vein that I invite you to come with me for a spectacular experience. One you likely have forgotten, but will hopefully remember, if it feels true to you.

I remember being in heaven before I came to earth. The memories are shadowy, but enough lingers to connect me. I call it the ‘before life’ and it’s very different from the ‘after life’ that many folks talk about.

I’d like to share one memory with you…the ‘crossing ceremony’.

I need to set the stage a bit, beginning with what heaven feels like. It is ‘bliss’. Since there are no words available to describe it, I’ll use images as my language. So…

Imagine looking out at the dazzling ocean. Imagine being able to use the most incredibly small eyedropper and sliding it into the ocean, then drawing out one single drop of water. If you squeezed the eyedropper, the water would come out and fall back into the ocean, becoming one again. Each of us is a part of this ocean. Each an individual essence and yet part of the one.

Each of us has the free will to remain in heaven where all answers are known before any questions are asked or we may choose to come to earth, to create and experience duality and exercise our free will.

When an essence makes the choice to come to earth there is a ritual that is held called the ‘crossing ceremony’.

So… imagine yourself as an energetic shell in essentially the shape of a human being. You are lying on a surface surrounded by a vast multitude of energetic essences, all crowding in to be an intimate part of the ceremony. These are your closest ‘kin’, and they will always be with you, both in heaven and on earth. While on earth some may appear to be adversaries, but this is not the truth, for there is only one single entity in existence…love.

There is a sound like the beating of a drum, which grows and grows in intensity and then transforms into your heartbeat. You ‘watch’ as your body shell intricately forms a web of impossibly rich interweaving energy connections. As they form and touch, you ‘flesh’ out, and are endowed with the gift or free will, the ability to choose your path, so that whatever you decide becomes possible. You accept all the energy you need in order to accomplish what you choose to create and experience during your earth life.

You begin to develop physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually and you form a ‘spiritual blueprint’, which lays out a moldable, adaptable life plan which is always available to your spiritual self. And lastly, you choose an ego, so that you are protected and can establish boundaries, so that you know where your earth self begins and ends.

You rest a moment then become aware that you still know the answers to all questions and must make a decision before coming to earth. Will you choose to remember or choose to forget what you know. In all but rare cases, essences coming to earth choose to forget what they know, so that their experience of earth life is completely open. This is called ‘the great forgetting’. In many cases there are pieces that remain, and some things are still remembered.

What stands out the most is the overwhelming intimacy of the ceremony. You feel completely and totally infused with love. You are love made real.

In my case, I remember an image of one essence touching my heart and sending me on my way to join my kin in this magnificent place we call earth.

PS

If anyone else remembers this, I’d love to have you leave a comment.

Posted on

Not Holding On

Here’s a question for you.

Do you think there is a difference between ‘letting go’ and ‘not holding on’?

When the two statements jumped into my mind, I initially thought they were interchangeable. But the more I thought about them, the more unique they became, and their differences made quite an impression on me. So much so I thought I’d share them with you.

For me, ‘letting go’ implies that I already am holding on to something and that I’ve accepted it as important enough for it to become a part of me. To release the idea would require me to make a conscious decision. I have a choice whether to keep the item or let it go.

The concept of ‘not holding on’ turns out to be very different. Something has been or is being presented to me. There is an offer on the table and so I must choose whether I want it or not. I recognize I am considering something ‘other’, something which does not belong to me, at least not yet.

Sometimes I confuse these two concepts. As a result, the clarity with which I make my decisions is affected. I need some benchmarks to help me.

One comes to me. It is that I am never required to accept anything offered to me. It is always my choice. This happens to apply whether I am reconsidering my ‘ownership’ or deciding whether to accept something new.

The reason I say this is because of my absolute firm belief in free will. It is one of the most precious gifts I have.

Maybe you’ve been told otherwise. Perhaps there are people in your life that demand, negotiate or attempt to bribe or reward you to choose whatever they offer you. They wish for you to meet their expectation, rather than allow you to exercise your free will and choose for yourself.

When this happens to me, a question pops into my head. Why? What is their motivation? Do they truly have my best interests at heart or their own? I think it’s a fair question.

A second idea comes around a corner into my vision. What is the idea or concept ultimately offering me? I confess it’s not always easy to tell.

I sharpen an edge on the question and ask it another way. In what way(s) does what’s being offered to me serve me?

The words, ‘serve me’, may be unfamiliar to you as a way to decide anything, so let me try to clarify.

For most of my life I approached my achievements in a convention way. Get good grades in school (which I didn’t), go to college, get married, get a job, move up the ladder, have children, save for retirement…I think you get the picture. I took all of these things and absorbed them. Everyone I knew talked about them and strove for them. They became my internally accepted and expected goals and I gave them little conscious thought. I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate all these things because I do. They’ve given my life indescribable joy and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. But it is also true that I never really seriously considered other choices.

I didn’t know I could make independent choices. Does this feel at all familiar to you? I know I’m not alone because many others have told me variations on this theme.

Enter the new concept of what ‘serves me’. The fundamental idea is that I have the power to make all of my own choices. And, that if I pay attention, I can tell the difference between choices that ‘feel’ right to me and those that do not. The ones that feel right align with where I want to go in life and what I want to do or accomplish.

The beautiful thing is that I can exercise my free will to make choices that align with my spirit, that feel right to me, that ‘serve me’. I can do this both with ‘letting go’ and with ‘not holding on’.

And the good news is, so can you, if that is what you choose.

Posted on

Clarity About (god’s) Role

Do you ever wonder whether (god) is playing a role in your life? And if so, what it is and how it works?

I’ve placed “god” in lower case letters inside a parathesis on purpose. My reason being that the use of capital letters seems to give the impression of distance in the relationship we have with our divine self and creates a formality. I don’t believe either of these things exists.

Over my twenty-five years of intimate, two-way conversations with (god), there is no such thing as distance and certainly no formality, unless I create it for some reason.

We talk regularly and (god) has many voices, all of them sweet and meaningful to me. There is a voice of a loving father (abba), deeply caring mother (na’a), wise brother (yeshiwa) and ethereal, compassionate sister (lia, love in action). And lately there is the emergence of a new voice who is offering me an incredibly rich depth of understanding (essence).

I wonder what (god’s) voice sounds like to you. If it is harsh, judgmental, and dispassionate, I offer you this opportunity to choose differently. To release this sense of (god) and choose a different view, a loving, caring, compassionate view.

I want to invite you to see (god) through my eyes for a moment.

I’m prepared to accept that each of us has received cultural training which has created our set of beliefs, neither inherently ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but ever present within us.

I’m also prepared to accept that what each of us has absorbed contains a great number of contradictions making it almost impossible to know the ‘truth’ about anything.

One of my biggest questions is what role (god) plays in my life? Perhaps you wonder the same thing. You may even have strongly conflicting feelings, at times sensing (god) is withholding from you or overshadowing your desires.

So, I asked and the voice that belongs to Lia and she answered me. Here is what she told me.

“You can ask for my help with anything, and I will provide it for you. I will never circumvent your free will because it is sacrosanct. I always listen to everything you think and say, and I always have. Please try to understand that you have asked me for many things during the course of your life, many of which are conflicting statements and requests. You do not remember this, but I do. It may seem to you that I am not listening, but this is not the case. I am always listening, always available, always loving you.”

There have been so many times that her words have helped break something open inside of me and this was one of those times.

I understood immediately that she was absolutely correct. I had asked for millions of things during my life, and I realized that many did conflict. How could it even be possible for my wishes and desires to happen since there was no consistency in my asking.

Had I been (god), could I have helped fulfill my requests, when I wanted so many different things? The simple answer was, NO.

I realized that I needed to clean my slate.

Do you remember a toy called an Etch-A-Sketch? You could twist the two knobs and a line would form on the screen. If you were very good, you could make a design and when you wanted to start over, you held a lever on the side and pulled it downward, which completely cleared the screen, returning it to blankness.

Magic. You could now begin anew.

Well, you can do the same thing. You can clear your requests of (god) and start over. You can choose the role you would like (god) to play in your life, and you can decide what you would like help with.

Lia explained to me that it is her fondest desire to assist me in all things. Listening to her words I came to understand that for me to experience what I say I desire I must be consistent and unambiguous. It is only then that she can aid me since there is a clarity to my thoughts, feelings, and requests.

I am so grateful for her presence in my life and her words of wisdom.

Posted on

Ego Wants a Role

My most recent post focused on Free Will and its relationship with God’s Will. This brought up several questions for me, so I decided to investigate further, which means asking Lia, a feminine voice of god, to share some insight with me.

One of the most perplexing questions I encounter is how active god is in my life. I wonder how the relationship takes shape between my actions and god’s actions. Are they always in some kind of harmony? Is my free will always the action that counts the most and takes precedent?

So, of course, I asked god (in this case Lia) about this, saying, “How are you active in my life, especially in relationship to free will?”

Lia responded, “It’s less complicated than you think. You and I are connected. It can truthfully be said, we are ONE, because we are inseparable, except that you can agree to make it ‘appear’ as though we are not.”

“This ‘appearance’ happens when you accept the illusion of an earth life, but keep in mind, that beneath this illusion is the truth, we are one and inseparable.”

“While living the ‘agreement’ of the illusion, you accept that your EGO will assist you with the creation and maintenance of a state of awareness called and known as YOU (insert your name). Ego works diligently to manage this state of YOU, which includes a belief that you are separate from others and that you have observable boundaries.”

“If those boundaries appear in jeopardy, ego goes to work to reinforce them and reacquires its comfort zone. That is its job, and it takes it quite seriously.”

“Occasionally, ego becomes relaxed or is forced into surrender, either voluntarily or involuntarily. When either of these happen, it creates a unique state, one where you will/can experience life outside the ego walls.”

As interesting as these insights were I still wanted to know how active Lia is in my daily life and how her action relate to my free will.

In reply she said, “As an earth essence, you are always free to do or experience anything you choose. You cannot do otherwise. This is a fundamental truth. However, since we are truly ONE essence (you and I and all others) you could say that WE have free will. WE are in relationship, always and forever, part of the same fundamental truth.”

“When you ask the question as you did, your reference point becomes a statement that there is separation…a you and a me, two entities.”

“When you view us as separate, you are forced to confront the idea of two entities, each with its own free will, which creates a conflict because it implies, we could want two different things. Unless you surrender to the truth, this will not be solvable- ever.”

I’d been listening very carefully, but wanted to make certain I heard her correctly so I asked, “Are you are telling me that, if I shift my beliefs, I will be able to see the truth, that we are not now, nor ever were, nor ever will be, SEPARATE and as such, WE have free will?”

Lia answered, “Yes, and there is more to it.”

I wondered what else there was to know and asked, “Since we are ONE, how do I make sense of my life as it appears?”

I was surprised by Lia’s response, “That depends fully on how much you want to wake up and remember.”

Some clarity was seeping in, and I responded, “I see. That’s the dividing line, isn’t it? If I truly desire and choose to wake up, all will be known to me.”

“Yes”, Lia answered.

“Then why am I afraid of this? Do I think it will end the game of life?”

Lia’s wisdom and insight shone through clearly for me as she answered, “Your ego is concerned that it will not be able to protect you if you choose to remember. There is no truth to this fear (worry, concern)…none at all, but it feels real to your ego and that’s all it takes in order to want to stay put in your current understanding.”

“How can we allay ego’s concerns?”

Lia said, “Ask ego what it has seen during your life, as you’ve expanded, that creates an uncomfortable feeling for it.”

The truth is plain now. I need to know more about what my ego has to say before I can move forward. It is certainly time for a chat.

Posted on

Post #71 No Limits 06062021

There was a point recently that I was searching for an answer and couldn’t, from my own wisdom, discern a path to follow. That’s happened before. Lots of times actually. Maybe the same thing has happened to you.

It felt like there ought to be a course of action to take or perhaps a book telling me just what I needed or wanted to know. But there wasn’t.

I’ve learned that whenever this is the case, it’s time for me to turn inward and have a conversation with Lia (in case you’re new to these posts, see my explanation at the end about Lia).

I asked her for some clarification.

She told me the following, “You have everything you need in this world to meet all of your dreams and desires. It’s how it was set up. There are no missing pieces, and yes, I am always available to talk with you; to assist, guide, illuminate and answer.”

“Except,” she went on to say, “when you decide I can’t.”

I understood this and it rang true in a deep part of me. I am in charge. I decide how to view the world and her role in my life. And, if I make choices that limit what she or I can do, that’s how it will be.

Lia spoke again, “I gave YOU the power and the control and the responsibility. YOU choose what to do with it. You have free will. You can see this in everything, if you look carefully.”

Despite what she meant, what I heard was that she was not engaged in my life the way I wanted her to be, since she made it sound that everything was up to ME. So, I asked, “If I can’t have you help me, where does that leave me?”

Here’s one of the ways I know she loves me (she loves you too, by the way). She builds me up and it feels like truth to me.

Lia said, “You have EVERYTHING you need for ALL of what you consider you want or desire in your life, so it isn’t necessary for ME do anything ‘magical’ for you. You’re endowed with everything already. I know many others have provided you with opinions, either their own or ones they’ve borrowed from others.”

“It’s important that you pay attention now. One way to tell if others opinions are true for you, is to ask yourself whether they limit you in any way. If they do, and if they impede your sense of free will, then they are not the truth. It is as simple as that.”

I think Lia sensed my hesitancy in fully accepting her statement, so she went on, “The value of your achievements and accomplishments is that they serve as PROOF of your innate abilities to push beyond your perceived limits. And”, she continued, “seeing others around you exceed their ‘supposed’ limits, can serve as a catalyst for you, to set or reset what you believe about yourself.”

All of this made perfect sense to me. It was what I needed to hear and was the answer I was searching for. It allowed me to shift my perspective, which had become trapped in a rut. I had chosen to limit myself and see myself as small. I am not small. None of us are. We all have immense power and choice. We have free will and, if we choose it, a divine guide to help us navigate this beautiful earth world.

Explanation: Lia is a part of god and appears to me as an ethereal divine feminine presence. I know beyond any shadow of doubt that she loves me and have known her for many, many years.

Note: To make a comment, please click on the Post Name, then scroll to the bottom of the page, write your comment in the box and hit enter.

Posted on

Free Will

Imagine you are sitting at a desk. You are in a comfortable chair with your feet firmly placed on the floor. Your posture is upright and your mind is sharp. You look down and see a piece of paper laying across the top of the desk. Surprisingly, it stretches out endlessly in to the left and to the right. A pen rests on the paper and you pick it up.

A voice calls out to you with a question. It is a soothing voice, one you think you ought to recognize. You decide to let go of trying to know who it is and center in on the question itself.

The voice says, “This is the continuum of ‘free will’ and you stand at the middle point. The left end represents your belief that you do not have any free will and that all things are already decided for you. The right end signifies that you believe you have absolute free will to decide whatever you want to experience in life, with no barriers or requirements. Consider carefully, because whatever you choose will determine the course of your life. On what part of the paper do you choose to make your mark?”

This is no simple decision.

Many of us are taught through our religious training that (god), regardless of the tradition, has a ‘will’ for us. Ordinarily, this ‘will’ is either unknown to us or must be told to us by others, who are said to possess greater understanding. They become the interpreters of (god’s) will.

I wonder, how is it that they know something we don’t? How have they come by this knowledge and how can they tell all others what is right and true for them?

I wanted to know more about this, so I asked (god) (Lia) this morning, and this is what she said.

“You may choose to experience life as unhappiness, discontentment and unfulfillment by choosing fear (rather than love) as the basis for your decisions. Aligning with what others tell you is my will is one way to do this. What is happening here is that you are allowing others to control your decisions out of fear that I will be displeased with you and reject you. You are accepting that they know the truth but that you don’t. Your trust is placed in them, rather than in me and in yourself. Whenever you concede to others, you lose all of your power and sacrifice your free will, which is your greatest and most beautiful gift.”

She went on to say, “This may surprise you, but I have no will for you to behave in any particular or specific manner. That does not mean that I do not know what you choose. I do. I also know that if it is your desire to live a happy, contented, joy filled life, exercising your free will is the pathway. You are made completely and entirely of love, so you are your most happy, contented, joy filled self when you are acting (choosing) in accordance with your very nature. There is an alignment of love in this. Just because I know this to be true, I do not have a will for you to be this way. That is your choice.”

And finally, she said, “You are in this world to create and experience whatever you desire. Free will gives you the choice to align with fear or with love. This is up to you.”

Accepting this as the truth for me, I feel free to choose any option and embrace any opportunity, knowing that the ones that most serve me are those made from love, because they align with my very nature.

Note: To make a comment, please click on the Post Name, then scroll to the bottom of the page, write your comment in the box and hit enter.

Posted on

Energy

I share a belief held by many scientists that everything in our world is part of an energy field. Actually, the claim is even larger, because most state that everything in the universe is part of one vast energy field. Imagine that everything, ranging from the grandest scale all the way down to the unseen quantum level is included.

Belief in this is challenging for many, because they want undisputed proof. They want evidence in support of these claims. For them, feeling it is not enough, they want the facts.

For those scientists who do believe, and for all of the rest of us who join them, several big questions arise. Chief among them, what force created and sustains this incredible energy field?

One of the beautiful things in this world is that each of us is free to decide for ourselves.

I’m glad this is the case.

I’m a big believer in free will and my ability to choose my own direction.

I’d like to share what feels like the truth to me. I believe that

LOVE is the powerful force that creates and sustains this energy field and sets everything in motion. I believe that love creates vibrations that oscillate as frequencies. And these frequencies are in constant motion within and surrounding everything.

For humans, and perhaps all essences, it seems to me that we are nourished and depleted according to the flow of energy entering and exiting our being. And so, our sense of happiness or suffering occurs as a result of shifts in our energy fields.

At times, certain events which appear to be outside of our control, challenge us and disturb our energy flow. We may even perceive that we have needs that are unmet, which create further problems for us. The longer these situations continue, the more our balance is affected.

You might ask, how does this theory relate to everyday life? That’s a very good question and one I’ve been pondering lately.

I’ve discovered that all of the answers I desire come from (god). Lately my answers have come through a part of (god) I call Lia, which stands for Love In Action. For me, she and the other parts of (god) are what powers the universal energy field.

I’m not asking you to accept this as your truth, but I’d like to share what she had to say to me about when our needs are not met, to see if it might be helpful to you.

These are her words to me.

“Need is a distortion of the truth and a false impression. The feeling of need shifts your attention away from love and draws you into a feeling of ‘lack’, where you believe you are not whole. It makes you feel that you must acquire some missing piece or pieces. The truth is you are already whole and surrounded by an energy field of love. 

Need is a mirage. You know this as the truth most deeply when you observe that once you receive what you felt you needed and intensely desired, that it did not fill you up. Or, if it did, that the feeling was only temporary, quickly faded and was replaced by a new sense of need.

The way through and beyond this is to realize you ‘lack’ nothing, because you are already complete and always connected to love and to the vast energetic field of love.

(She continued) And before you ask, yes, of course there are ‘things’ you don’t have, but things don’t, nor will they ever, make you feel complete. Love alone provides this.”

So, I’ve decided to trust Lia and when a need in me arises, to remember her words and her promise to always love me.

Note: To make a comment, please click on the Post Name, then scroll to the bottom of the page, write your comment in the box and hit enter.