The 2nd Law of the Universe: Vibrations

January 24, 2023

vibrations

The Law of Vibration states that anything that exists in our universe, whether seen or unseen, consists of pure energy or light and exists as a vibrational frequency or pattern.

This includes everything – you, your pets, your house, your favourite material possessions, food, liquids, everything made of matter. We’re all just energy vibrating at a certain frequency.

Each vibration has a frequency. When it comes to spiritual vibrations, it’s said that these frequencies occur on a scale from low to high:

Lower frequency vibrations – are produced by negativity. Any time you feel anxiety, anger, fear, jealousy or hatred you are producing low-frequency vibrations. These low, heavy vibrations drag you down.
Higher frequency vibrations – are produced by positivity. Any time you feel love, sympathy, confidence, gratitude, awe or kinship you are producing high-frequency vibrations. These light, bouncing vibrations make you feel more energetic and cheerful.
At a microscopic level, everything is in constant motion, vibrqating at a specific frequency. This applies to matter but also one's personal frequency as well. This law says that our vibrational frequency can inform our lived experience.

For example, "You may be able to receive money but perhaps you can't hold on to it," "because vibrationally, you could be operating on a lower level."

The thoughts, feelings and actions we choose also have their own particular rates of vibration. These vibrations will set up resonance with whatever possesses identical frequency. In other words, your thoughts are inseparably connected to the rest of the universe. "Like attracts like". As you choose good thoughts, more good thoughts of alike nature will follow and you will also be in vibrational harmony with others with like thoughts.

For us, thought is where it all begins. As your conscious mind dwells habitually on thoughts of a certain quality, these become firmly imbedded within the subconscious mind. They become the dominant vibration.

This dominant vibration sets up a resonance with other similar vibrations and draws them into your life. This is easier to understand if you consider that from the metaphysical view, the whole universe IS MIND. In turn, your vibrations affect everything around you – your environment, the people and animals around you, the inanimate objects, even the seemingly ‘empty’ space and they, in turn, affect you.

How to measure human vibrational frequency

Your feeling at the present moment dictates your vibration. It is said that feeling is a word to define conscious awareness of vibration. So, your feeling at the moment is your vibration you are in which sets up things of like nature. Positive feelings = positive circumstance, negative feelings = negative circumstances.

Learning how to measure human vibrational frequency is simple. Your feelings are like an internal frequency barometer. This means to determine your own vibrational frequency, all you need to do is answer one question:

How are you feeling right now?

Generally positive

If you are feeling anywhere from fairly good to outright positive, you are vibrating at a higher frequency.
Following the theory of spiritual vibrations above, this means you would be more likely to find positivity in your outside life too.
This might mean you find more opportunities, meet better people and form better relationships.

Generally negative

If you are feeling low, you are vibrating at a lower frequency.
Again, according to the theory of spiritual vibration, you are more likely to attract negative situations.
This might include poor relationships and coming into contact with worse situations.

How to raise your frequency

There are many things which you can do to “raise your frequency.” You will see for yourself how many of them fall in line with smart practices to boost your well-being.

1) Practice personal mindfulness internally
Whether you do it through yoga, meditation or another discipline, a little mindfulness can go a long way to giving your vibration a boost.
2) Practice personal mindfulness externally
If you spend a lot of time talking about other people, complaining and explaining how you’re not good enough, you are generating low quality vibrations which will affect your surroundings. If you notice that you are constantly expressing your negative thoughts, it is time to consider actions you can take to stop them being such a presence in your life.

3) Pay attention to other people and places
What sort of spiritual vibrations do you think the people who you regularly spend time with give off?
Would you say they are positive types who constantly give you energy with their sunny dispositions?
Or are they negative people who are creating a toxic environment and bringing you down?

4) Pay attention to yourself
It’s no good trying to get good vibrations out of a broken machine. You need to treat your body right in order to help it vibrate at higher frequencies.
You can start by eating high vibration foods. These are pretty much anything natural and healthy – certainly no synthetic or processed foods.

5) Get out into nature

6) Enjoy yourself – and say thank you when you do!
The more fun you’re having – whatever this means to you – the more you are likely to be raising your spiritual vibrational frequency.

Unplug from the matrix

Although computers, smartphones, etc., are great for staying connected, all electronic devices emit subtle, invisible electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) that may negatively impact your energy field and drain your spiritual life force.
To limit your exposure, use these devices for no more than two hours at a time before taking a break. At night, before going to sleep, turn off all Wi-Fi equipment and unplug the router to prevent interference with your circadian rhythm, which can cause you to awaken less rested. If breaking with technology even for a few hours a day seems difficult, start small with a tech detox one hour a day just after work hours, and, eventually, work yourself up to one tech-free day per week.

Bathe

Ever heard of people who get their best ideas in the shower? That’s because cleansing helps wash away unseen energy patterns from the body’s aura (including those picked up from others and accumulated throughout the day), making room for new creative thoughts and positive energies that are always seeking to guide us.
In a pinch, just washing your face and hands can help freshen your perspective. For extra energy cleansing, smudging with sage, You can smudge yourself or another person, as well as objects, rooms, and even an entire house!

Move your body

In addition to anti-aging, mood, and metabolic benefits, even small amounts of physical exercise can raise your vibration. Whether it’s walking, running, swimming, spinning, or practicing tai chi or yoga, physical exercise can help get you out of mental or emotional ruts and boost healthy endorphins.

Organize your environment

According to organizational expert Karen Kingston, author of Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui, when a client tells her they’re sad or depressed, the first thing she asks them to do is clean out a drawer.

Go on a news detox

Feel depressed, anxious, or fearful after watching or reading the news? As it stands, most mainstream news outlets serve a primary purpose: earning profits—and the quickest way to make a profit is by appealing to the lowest human common denominators of fear, greed, and violence.

Practice gratitude

According to Harvard Health, multiple studies have shown that expressing gratitude is associated with positive health outcomes and more happiness.

How to use the law of vibration to your advantage:

1. For manifesting

In order to manifest anything, we must first match the vibration of what it is we're looking for. "You will only attract to yourself energy that matches up with your energy. You will only attract vibrations that match up with your vibration."

Say you want to manifest more wealth, but you constantly think about how you need more money. Remember that your thoughts also have vibrational energy; the thought "I need more money" actually holds a vibration of lack and could lead to a self fulfilling prophecy. "We have the power to dictate the frequency of our being by directing our own thoughts,"

2. For navigating situations

tapping into this universal law can help you figure out how you feel in a situation or scenario at any given time. "Once you discern what feels high vibrational to you—like attitudes, places, and people that feel connecting, healthy, and exciting—it's easier to sense when you are in the presence of high vibes."

3. For managing emotions

And of course, emotions also hold vibrational frequencies, and working with this law can help you navigate them. "Emotions are powerful guides to shift us into a higher, more balanced state of being," emotions can range from very low frequency (fear, shame, etc.) to very high frequency (joy and love).
"There are no bad feelings—it's all energy that wants to move forward," "When we feel anxious or stressed, this is simply energy that wants to move through us and be released."
The law of vibration helps us recognize when we're moving through dense, heavy emotions, so we can let them go and maintain a higher frequency.

“Your personal vibration or energy state is a blend of the contracted or expanded frequencies of your body emotions and thoughts at any given moment. The more you allow your soul to shine through you, the higher your personal vibration will be”

— Penney Peirce

The great inventor and scientist Nikola Tesla once said, “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.”
The word Om is defined by Hindu scripture as being the primordial sound of creation. It is the original vibration of the universe. From this first vibration, all other vibrations are able to manifest.

We are slowed down sound and light waves, a walking bundle of frequencies tuned into the cosmos. We are souls dressed up in sacred biochemical garments and our bodies are the instruments through which our souls play their music.
Albert Einstein

“Everything is energy. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.”
Albert Einstein

“Let your love send off so much positive energy that it shifts the vibrations in the room.”
Anonymous

“How you vibrate is what the universe echoes back to you in every moment.”
Panache

“Converse with people that raise your vibration.”
Anonymous

“When the prayer becomes the vibration of the mind and self, then we can create a miracle.”
Anonymous

“What you want is already here, in the unified field of pure potential. Everything you need to fulfill your greatest desire is already part of your being. But it can’t come out until you align with it, let go of the obstructions to it, and raise your vibration to the level at which it already exists.”
Derek Rydall

Story

There is a story of two boys who were twins, one an incurable optimist, the other, a pessimist. The parents were worried about the extremes of behaviour and attitude and finally took the boys in to see a psychologist. The psychologist observed them a while and then said that they could be easily helped.
He said that they had a room filled with all the toys a boy could want. They would put the pessimist in that room and allow him to enjoy life. They also had another room that they filled with horse manure. They put the optimist in that room. They observed both boys through one way mirrors. The pessimist continued to be a pessimist, stating that he had no one to play with. They went to look in on the optimist, and were astounded to find him digging through the manure. The psychologist ran into the room and asked what on earth the boy was doing. He replied that with all that manure, he was sure there had to be a pony in the room somewhere.

Poem: Rachel Laurene High Vibrations

When you believe in yourself Theres nothing you can't achieve  Invest in you and your own wealth Let your given talents weave   Trust in spirit and take heart The universe will provide  Manifesting is a part Riding life's eternal tide   Round and round the merry-go-round Is where I always went  Lost then found, life is most profound  Each person heaven sent   Take care of your energy  Take good care of yourself  Let what's meant to be then be  Love neighbor as thyself   Charity is always key And meditate your peace  Keep your spaces clear and clean  Less chaos be your lease   Inspirations everywhere  You must only look  Cast your line out, always share To catch what you hook
Keep your vibes high and you'll see  What gifts this life has in store. This is the world's secret key: Stay true to your inner core

Sacred Text

The great Third Hermetic Principle

"Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates." — The Kybalion. Teachings of Hermes Trismegistus

—the Principle of Vibration—embodies the truth that Motion is manifest in everything in the Universe—that nothing is at rest that everything moves, vibrates, and circles. This Hermetic Principle was recognized by some of the early Greek philosophers who embodied it in their systems. But, then, for centuries it was lost sight of by the thinkers outside of the Hermetic ranks. But in the Nineteenth Century physical science re-discovered the truth, and the Twentieth Century scientific discoveries have added additional proof of the correctness and truth of this centuries-old Hermetic doctrine.

The Hermetic Teachings are, that not only is everything in constant movement and vibration, but that the "differences" between the various manifestations of the universal power are due entirely to the varying rate and mode of vibrations. Not only this, but that even THE ALL, in itself, manifests a constant vibration of such an infinite degree of intensity and rapid motion that it may be practically considered as at rest, the teachers directing the attention of the students to the fact that even on the physical plane a rapidly moving object (such as a revolving wheel) seems to be at rest. The Teachings are to the effect that Spirit is at one end of the Pole of Vibration, the other Pole being certain extremely gross forms of Matter. Between these two poles are millions upon millions of different rates and modes of vibration.

“To destroy an undesirable rate of mental vibration, put into operation the principle of Polarity and concentrate upon the opposite pole to that which you desire to suppress. Kill out the undesirable by changing its polarity”

— The Kybalion

This is one of the most important of the Hermetic Formulas. It is based upon true scientific principles. We have shown you that a mental state and its opposite were merely the two poles of one thing, and that by Mental Transmutation the polarity might be reversed. This Principle is known to modern psychologists, who apply it to the breaking up of undesirable habits by bidding their students concentrate upon the opposite quality.
If you are possessed of Fear, do not waste time trying to "kill out" Fear, but instead cultivate the quality of Courage, and the Fear will disappear. Some writers have expressed this idea most forcibly by using the illustration of the dark room. You do not have to shovel out or sweep out the Darkness, but by merely opening the shutters and letting in the Light the Darkness has disappeared. To kill out a Negative quality, concentrate upon the Positive Pole of that same quality, and the vibrations will gradually change from Negative to Positive, until finally you will become polarized on the Positive pole instead of the Negative.
The reverse is also true, as many have found out to their sorrow, when they have allowed themselves to vibrate too constantly on the Negative pole of things. By changing your polarity you may master your moods, change your mental states, remake your disposition, and build up character.
"He who understands the Principle of Vibration, has grasped the sceptre of Power," says one of the old writers.

Eric Butterworth

Jesus said: ''Agree with thine adversary quickly…" (Matt. 5:25 A.V.). Don't be misled; He is talking about your adverse reaction, the bad vibration of your resistance. To "agree," as He uses the term, means to get in tune with God, to become synchronized with the divine flow. When you are poised in yourself, you are in a position to project this positive vibration to the world.
Ask yourself, "Am I part of the solution to the problems around me, or am I part of the problem?" If you react with anger or bitterness or fear, you are projecting negative vibrations, and thus you are part of the problem. Unless you want to perpetuate conditions around you, you must change your thoughts about them.
We need to work constantly to heighten our consciousness, to build positive vibrations within. We do this most effectively through the power of the spoken word. Charles Fillmore says: Words are the most powerful agents of the mind. Every time we speak we cause the atoms of the body to tremble and change their places.
God created the universe so that it vibrates, moves, and travels in circular patterns or motions; nothing rests, and all things are made of energy.
Our feelings, emotions, visions, desires, thoughts, dreams, words, and will, attract and resonate with energies with similar frequency.
For example, when you bless adversity, and act in gratitude as if you already have and are what you desire, then it will come to you, because you are raising your vibrational frequency.
The scriptures often speak about “rejoicing in our tribulations,” because joy attracts joy as much as “misery loves company.” [See 2 Cor 6:10]

Meditation Ernest Holmes

2 - I am conscious of the currents of life
When we say that our body is spiritual we are not denying our physical body. The physical is included within the spiritual. If the Spirit, or Divine Intelligence, has seen fit to give us a physical body it would be absurd to think of our body as an illusion unworthy of our attention. Rather, we should think of our body as a spiritual instrument, and every statement we make about our body, or belief we hold about it, that accepts spiritual Perfection as the substance of the body, tends to heal.

Affirm - My body is the temple of the living Spirit. It is spiritual substance now. Every part of my body is in harmony with the living Spirit within me. The Life of this Spirit flows through every atom of my being, vitalizing, invigorating, and renewing every part of my physical body. There is a pattern of perfection at the center of my being that is now operating through every organ, function, action, and reaction. My body is forever renewed by the Spirit. I am now made vigorous and whole. I possess the vitality of the Infinite. I am strong and well. The Life of the Spirit is my life. All of Its Strength is my strength. Its Power is my power. I feel that my whole being is renewed, invigorated, and made alive. There is complete stillness and perfect peace at the center of my being as I wait on that Presence that makes all things perfect. Every breath I draw is a breath of perfection, vitalizing, upbuilding, and renewing every cell of my body. I am born of the Spirit. I am in the Spirit. I am the Spirit made manifest.”

Rumination

The lamps are different, but the Light is the same. One matter, one energy, one Light, one Light-mind, endlessly emanating all things. Rumi

Benediction

Lord’s Prayer from the New Zealand prayer book:
  Eternal Spirit, Earth maker, Pain bearer, Life giver, Source of all that shall be. Father and Mother of us all. Loving God, in whom is heaven; May the hallowing of your name echo through the Universe! May the way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! May your heavenly will be done by all created beings! May your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and may it come on earth.
With the bread that we need for today, feed us. In the hurts that we absorb from one another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love. Now and forever, now and forevermore. Amen.

Song: Thoughts become things - Fearless Soul

The 1st Law of the Universe: Divine Oneness - Oneness through Emptying yourself!

January 15, 2023

Oneness handwritten amongst a colourful background resebling the universe

“Treat everyone you meet like God in drag.”

— Ram Dass

12 Laws of the Universe

The Law of Divine Oneness: We are all connected

Oneness. The awareness of non-duality. Unity. Wholeness. Merging with the universe.

So what is needed to be more conscious of out oneness? We need t cultivate becoming an every day non dual mystic like Jesus - we need to practice his way of knowing, being, loving and expressing in the world

Jesus modeled and exemplified nonduality more than anyone else giving us any systematic teaching on it, the capacity to be open, inclusive, and tolerant of paradox. “the unitive state” through emptying himself

Our inability to fully understand him and seriously follow him may be partly because we have not been taught how to see nondually ourselves.

The egoic voice is the one that puts duality into our world and disconnects us from others.

The ego allows hierarchies of love and acceptance when the heart clearly states there is none because it needs to be above everything.
This selfishness comes from a place of fear, which is the constant state the ego wants us in because it cares how we look to others. It fights to be in control, but this fearful state is an illusion, which we can overcome when we look at the circumstances with the eyes of love. The Divine, which is pure love, connects directly to the soul, and it has no fear.

The dualistic mind is essentially binary, either/or thinking. It knows by comparison, opposition, and differentiation. It uses descriptive words like good/evil, pretty/ugly, smart/stupid, not realizing there may be a hundred degrees between the two ends of each spectrum. Dualistic thinking works well for the sake of simplification and conversation, but not for the sake of truth or the immense subtlety of actual personal experience.

“A mind that does not need to separate and exclude in order to perceive reality will encounter far less resistance in the current of life and inflict far less violence upon others.” CB That’s what nonduality means. It’s more than just the ability to hold both sides of a paradox in mind simultaneously; an abiding sense of oneness with God. It is the capacity to see with the eyes of God, which is to say, the eyes of love. It’s not what we see, but how we see it.

The Tree of Life is a symbol of the interconnectedness of all life. It is also a symbol of the eternal nature of the soul. The tree has its roots in the ground, representing our connection to the physical world. Its branches reach up to the sky, representing our connection to the spiritual world.

Our physical bodies need the Earth to nourish us, while at the same time, our souls originate from the Universe (or Source) and will return to it once our bodies perish. Likewise, through the Universe, we are not separate; we are connected to all things.

It typically represents the interconnectedness of all things in the universe and the idea that everything is connected to one another.

In Genesis 2:9, we read, “And out of the ground made the Lord God grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst thereof.”

TOL - , Diunital Both and, as well as Non Dualistic
TKOGB - To grant the knowledge of good and evil sees separation and division - Dichotomus Either or Dualistic

Our greatest strength lies, not in how much we differ from each other, but in how much – how very much – we are the same. Eknath Easwaran

The most important lesson I have learned in the fifty years I have spent working toward the building of a better world is that the true work of social transformation starts within. It begins inside your own heart and mind, because the battleground of human transformation is really, more than any other thing, the struggle within human consciousness to believe and accept what is true. Thus to truly revolutionize our society, we must first revolutionize ourselves. We must be the change we seek if we are to effectively demand transformation from others. - John Lewis,

We’re all just walking each other home. — “Treat everyone you meet like God in drag.” Ram Dass

Sacred Text

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
“Though his state was that of God, yet he did not deem equality with God something he should cling to. Rather, he emptied himself, and assuming the state of a slave, he was born in human likeness. He, being known as one of us, humbled himself, obedient unto death, even death on the cross.”

Philippians 2:5-8
The Creator Himself, at one and the same time, knowledge, the knower, and the known ... There exists nothing which is not united to Him and which
He does not find His own essence. He is the type of all being, and all things exist in Him under their most pure and most perfect form.
— Kabbalist Moses Cordovero, Page 74 of Kabbalah: The Way of The Jewish Mystic by Perle Epstein, 1st edition from my mother's library

Everywhere you turn is the Face of Allah.
Qur'an 2:115

Story

Gigi’s practice of kenosis follows a cycle, but when you let go of anything you tend to cling to, you are practicing kenosis. It is an intentional choice to let go for your own good and, as we see in Gigi’s story, also for the good of others. “Kenosis came to me unbidden when I lost my full-time job in 2008 and ran out of money a year later,” Gigi continues. “It came tasting like betrayal, a setup.”
“The most difficult time of this period, the kenosis of kenosis for me, was the 20 months I stayed with an activist in her 80s in exchange for helping her continue to live independently in her two-bedroom apartment. My stay was difficult because the day-to-day details that were my responsibilities mattered less and less to her, and it became more difficult for her to understand the necessity of taking care of them. Secondly, the room where I stayed shared a wall with the apartment next door. The neighbor’s television was always on and always loud.
“I did not sleep well. Poor sleep colored my ability to be present to the woman I was supposed to help. Six months into my stay, everything came to a head: unexpected cleaning to be done yet again on my day off. An argument. Angry shouts. Later conversation about what happened. Me not remembering my hurtful words. Once reminded, a vague memory — my wakeup call. I saw a side of myself that shocked me. I reflected on why I couldn’t remember what I knew I had said.
“I kept my promise and lived there 14 more months with further opportunities to empty myself. I took my anger to God out of love for her and myself, and, in doing so, deepened my love for her and for me. This contemplation emptied me of my anger without removing the stress of that living situation, yet I was empty enough to serve in love.”

Gigi writes, “In Mark 12:28–34 [a scribe asks Jesus] ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus replies with the entire Shema, beginning with ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.’ Oneness is where Jesus begins his response, and his answer ends with oneness.
“God is one, so God’s greatest commandment is not only two, but one. We love God as one, and we are one with our neighbor in love.
“How do we do this, live this love? How did Jesus live it? Through kenosis. The word ’emptied,’ a translation of the Greek word ekenose, is a mindset not fixed, but a process, a dance that unfolds as follows:

A loving recognition of oneness or unity or union with God,
Letting that recognition go,
Allowing the sense of separateness to arise,
Letting it die,
Allowing the resurrection of the sense of oneness with God, and
Letting it go to repeat the cycle.”

Poem: In a world of Angels by Carl Scott Harker

Seated at my local Medical Center
Waiting in the extended lobby
For a lab appointment
Having nothing better to do
I imagined everyone around me
As angels

Now depending upon your point of view
You might imagine
A gathering of Jesuses
A meeting of scientists
The buddha in everyone
A club of billionaires
A glade of elves...
Wherever your belief system takes you

I saw angels walking,
Some in scrubs
Some in civilian clothes,
There were old angels
Limping angels
Coughing angels
Bandaged angels
Child angels
Infirm angels...
Yet as angels do
They all had a glow

A boring wait had become
A beautiful world

Then a door opened
My name "Carl" was called
Blood was drawn
A urine sample was left,
In the storage cupboard,
My hands washed
The techs thanked
And back in my car, I was,
Driving home
Not realizing that
For a few minutes
I was an angel, too.

Meditation: Paul Ferrini

Father/ Mother God:
Help me to feel my oneness with you and my equality with my brothers and sisters.
Help me to recognise my judgments and to look within for correction.
Help me to give up shame and blame and to learn from my errors so that I do not repeat them.
Help me to care for my body, my family, my community and my planet.
Help me to create what is for my highest good and for the highest good of others
Help me to be responsible for my creations.
Help me give up victim consciousness and realise that I am a powerful person with many creative choices.
Help me to stand up for myself in a loving way without attacking others or seeking to influence the choices they need to make.
Help me offer freedom to others so that I may receive it in return.
Help me reach out with compassion to those in pain, in grief, under stress, or in limitation of any kind and offer them hope and encouragement.
Allow my heart to open to them.
Allow my eyes to see beyond the behaviour
that is motivated by fear and unworthiness.
May I offer to others and to myself the unconditional love and acceptance you offer to me.
Help me to master my skills and talents so that I may place them in your service and fulfil my purpose here.
Help me to step into the role you would have me play in inspiring, empowering and uplifting others.
Help me to trust my gifts and give them without expectation of return whenever the opportunity arises.
Help me to give freely and love freely surrendering the outcome to you.
Help me surrender the need to control so that I can live spontaneously and with your grace.
Help me to understand and heal my wounds so that I don’t push love away or block its presence in my heart and in my relationships.
Help me soften and become vulnerable.
Help me learn to ask for help and trust the help that you offer me.
Allow me to heal the past so that I can enter the present fully.
Allow me to become a doorway for the healing of others and let me walk courageously through the door that has been opened for me.
Help me surrender what is false and establish in what is true firmly and with conviction.
Help me to walk my talk, listen deeply, and speak only when I have something helpful to say.
Help me to understand that the Friend is always with me and my only purpose is to be a Friend to others.
Help me detach from name and fame and surrender all forms of external authority so that I can be guided by the authority within.
Allow me to know at all times and in all places that the highest good of others is and will always be my highest good.
Let all that separates me from others fall away so that I may recognise the One Self in all beings.
Allow me to complete my work on earth with care and humility and return to you when my work here is done.
May all veils and barriers that separate us dissolve so that I may dwell fully and completely in the heart of your love.
And so it is

Rumination

Lamps are different, but light is the same.
Rumi

Benediction

MARK BERRY – EMERGING CHURCH MOVEMENT
O Breathing Life, your Name shines everywhere!
Release a space to plant your Presence here.
Imagine your possibilities now.
Embody your desire in every light and form.
Grow through us this moment’s bread and wisdom.
Untie the knots of failure binding us,
as we release the strands we hold of others’ faults.
Help us not forget our Source,
Yet free us from not being in the Present.
From you arises every Vision, Power and Song
from gathering to gathering.
Amen

Song: We’re all one by Fearless soul

A world that needs our transformational presence.

January 9, 2023

“Transformational Presence is a way of showing up to life that inspires the best from the people and circumstances around you”

— Alan Seale

“Now, more than ever, we must show up with our best selves, we must become (or continue to be) part of the healing, rather than adding to the hurt. … Everything truly depends on our digging beneath the layers of our small, fearful selves, to the bigness that each and every one of us has inside. Everything depends on our resolve to stay in love.”
Julia Fehrenbacher

“Every minute of every hour of every day, you are making the world just as you are making yourself and you might as well do it with generosity and kindness and style.”
Rebecca Solnit

We have to keep the channels in ourselves open to pain. At the same time it is essential that true joys be experienced, that the sunrise not leave us unmoved, for civilization depends on the true joys.”
May Sarton

Sacred Text

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
John 13:34

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
John 4:20-21

And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
John 4:20-21

And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

This world is radiant with beauty. This world is also capable of bone-chilling brutality and the small, corrosive daily cruelties that salt our days with sorrow. For a sensitive person to live with the duality, to keep the light aflame without turning away from the darkness that needs illumination, may be the most difficult thing in life — and the most rewarding.

Sarton offers a cure for this deadly indifference — a cure that honeys this twenty-first-century soul with its poignancy and its potency:

I am more and more convinced that in the life of civilizations as in the lives of individuals too much matter that cannot be digested, too much experience that has not been imagined and probed and understood, ends in total rejection of everything — ends in anomie. The structures break down and there is nothing to “hold onto.” It is understandable that at such times religious fanatics arise and the fundamentalists rise up in fury. Hatred rather than love dominates. How does one handle it? The greatest danger, as I see it in myself, is the danger of withdrawal into private worlds. We have to keep the channels in ourselves open to pain. At the same time it is essential that true joys be experienced, that the sunrise not leave us unmoved, for civilization depends on the true joys, all those that have nothing to do with money or affluence — nature, the arts, human love. Maybe that is why the pandas in the London Zoo brought me back to poetry for the first time in two years.

Story

My family lives a few doors down from a lady called Alice who, since we moved in three years ago, has appeared a bit stand-offish. She seems quite well-to-do and let’s just say I thought she might not be well-disposed to refugees.
For that reason, when my 12-year-old daughter Eva said she’d like to ask our neighbours if they had any coats they’d donate to Care4Calais, I said of course, but just be careful with Alice. If she says no, maybe don’t push the point. Eva is quite passionate on the subject, and I didn’t her, or indeed Alice, to get hurt.
About an hour after setting out, Eva came back with a big armful of coats.
“Where they are from?” I asked
“All from Alice,” she said. “Did you know her mum and dad were refugees?”
It turns out my supposedly stand-offish neighbour’s parents came over from Austria in the 1930s. Her father worked as a doctor here, her mother as a teacher. Alice, retired now, spent her working life as a translator. She was delighted to help, and donated some coats that had belonged to her late husband.
So like I said, between them, an outspoken, open-hearted kid and an older lady have taught me something: Don’t ever underestimate the role that refugees have played in this country’s history, or assume that we know what other people’s feelings are. Making us mistrust each other is all part of how this rotten government’s propaganda works. Don’t fall for it like I did.

Poem: Transformation by Deborah Ann Belka

We must be willing, to give to God our heart before any transformation or morphing can take part.
If we’re to undergo, a complete radical change our thoughts and our ways God will have to rearrange.
To become a new creation, isn’t something up to us but by the power of God as in Him, we learn to trust.
If we are not to be, to the world conformed we must allow our lives in Jesus, to be transformed.
A renewing of our minds, is a part of the progress we must put on the new man and the old one suppress.
We must be willing, to make holy living official lest to the world we’ll appear … shallow and superficial!

Meditation — 365: Science of Mind, A Year of Daily Wisdom from Ernest Holmes

I know there is but One Mind, which is the mind of God, in which all people live and move and have their being.
I know there is a divine pattern for humanity and within this pattern there is infinite harmony and peace, cooperation, unity and mutual helpfulness.
I know that the mind of humankind, being one with the mind of God, shall discover the method, the way and the means best fitted to permit the flow of Divine Love between individuals and nations.
Thus harmony, peace, cooperation, unity and mutual helpfulness are experienced by all.
I know there will be a free interchange of ideas, of cultures, of spiritual concepts, of ethics, of educational systems and scientific discoveries — for all good belongs to all alike.
I know that because Divine Mind has created us all, we are bound together in one infinite and perfect unity.
I know that all people and all nations will remain individual but unified for the common purpose of promoting peace, happiness, harmony and prosperity.
I know that deep within each person the Divine Pattern of perfect peace is already implanted.
I now declare that in each person and in leaders of thought everywhere this Divine Pattern moves into action and form, to the end that all nations and all people will live together in peace, harmony and prosperity forever.
And so it is.

Today I walk in the light of God's Love. Today I am guided and my guidance is multiplied. I know exactly what to do, exactly how to do it. There is an inspiration within me that governs every act, every thought, in certainty, with conviction and peace.
— Excerpted from entry for December 25, 365: Science of Mind, A Year of Daily Wisdom from Ernest Holmes

Rumination

Do you think I know what I’m doing? That for one breath or a half of breath that I belong to myself?
Rumi

Benediction

Mother Father God
As the dawn breaks on a new year, let us give thanks for all we hold dear: our health, our family and our friends.
Let us release our grudges, our anger and our pains, for these are nothing but binding chains. Let us live each day in the most loving ways, the God-conscious way. Let us serve all who are in need, regardless of race, colour or creed.
Let us keep God of our own understanding in our hearts and to chant God's name each day. Let us lead the world from darkness to light, from falsehood to truth and from wrong to right.
Let us remember that we are all one, embracing all, discriminating against none.
May our year be filled with peace, prosperity and love.
May your blessings shower upon us and bestow upon each of us a bright, healthy and peaceful new year.  - Rev. Marcy Sheremetta Adapted by Dr Ing

Song: Change - Jermaine Dupuis, Ne Yo, Jonta Austen, Common etc

Happy New Spiritual Year! Time to get intimate with the infinite

January 4, 2023

“It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.”

— Paulo Colhelo

On the eve of the New Year, a new consciousness dawns on earth. God once again inspires each human being, each creature, with new hope, new light, new peace and new joy. God says, "The New Year dawns and a new consciousness dawns within you. Run toward the destined Goal." We listen to God, to the dictates of our Inner Pilot, and we run toward the ultimate Reality. The New Year energises us, encourages us and inspires us to run toward that ultimate Goal.
When the New Year dawns, we have to make ourselves conscious of the fact that we have to transcend ourselves this year. We have to go beyond our present capacity, beyond our present achievement. When we have that kind of firm determination, God showers His choicest Blessings upon us.
God always wants us to move ahead; He does not want us to look back. We know that while a runner is running fast, if he looks back, he will stumble. Similarly, if we are constantly looking behind at the year that we are leaving aside, we will think of our sorrow, misery, frustration, failure and so forth. But if we look forward, we will see hope dawning deep within us. Every day in this New Year is equally important.
Sri Chinmoy 2

Sacred Text

Philippians 3:13, “Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before.”

Psalm 65:11 You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Sri Chinmoy “Every day, when morning dawns, we should feel that we have something new to accomplish.”

Honor the space between no longer and not yet.
Nancy Levin

I look upon a year lived as a year earned; and each year earned means a greater treasury of experience and power laid up against time of need.
Anna Botsford Comstock

The greatest joys in life are found not only in what we do and feel, but also in our quiet hopes and labors for others.
Bryant McGill

"It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn't matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over."
Paulo Coelho

Next 12 days to represent the next 12 months a select a different word each day from the following list that you feel will help you express the spiritual nature you want to cultivate and live:

Understanding, Patience, Forgiveness, Kindness, Self Care, Gratitude, Letting Go, Willingness, Perseverance, Discipline. Compassion, Calm, Discernment,Awareness, Joy, Peace, Responsibility, Humility, Positive Thinking, Acceptance, Oneness, Believe, Faith Trust, Respect, Honesty, Harmony, Listening,Expansiveness, Expectancy, Serenity, Imagination, Creativity, Power, Enthusiasm, Grace, Purification, Decisiveness, Authenticity, Purpose, Change, Transformation, Health, Well being,Love, Courage, Humour, Balance, Fearlessness, Prayer, Confidence, Surrender, Deliberate, Beauty, Integrity, Flexibility, Healing, Intentional, Play, Openness.

Be specific. If you want to be more kind, be specific about what that means. Don’t just say, “be more kind” or “try to be nicer.” Instead, think about specific things that are important for you in your life and how being more kind can impact them positively.
Another example of a specific goal would be writing down all the ways we were unspiritual during the past week and making amends with those people in our lives who we hurt through our actions or words. We might also decide not to watch anything violent or negative on television anymore (and replace it with something positive). You get the idea! Specific goals allow us to pinpoint exactly what needs improvement so that we know when we’ve reached them

Poem: Wishes For A New Year BY John Peter Read

Brush away old heartaches. Learn from our mistakes. Another year is finally over. A new dawn awakes.  Let the old year out. Welcome the new one in. Bury the bad things of the past As a new year now begins.  Make your New Year wishes As simple as you can. Pray for peace and love, Not for wealth or fame.  Pray for health and happiness. Pray for your fellow man. Pray for all the ones you love. Pray for those who've lost their way.  As the midnight hour chimes, We leave the old and embrace the new. I wish the things you wish for yourself, And may God’s love stay with you.

Story: A New Year Perspective by Filoiann Wiedenhoff

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." NIV

As Christmas comes to an end we anxiously await the words "Happy New Year!" My best friend and I have this tradition we do every year for the last five years usually around the end of December. We go to our favorite beach spot, where we talk and pray about the past year and look ahead to the New Year.

We ponder and discuss all the interesting occurrences that happened the past year; the good times, the bad times, the frustrating times and the fun times. We share what valuable lessons we learned from our experiences, what God showed us and how He was faithful through all of it

We do this as a closure to one year and then an opening to the next. After we have laughed a while and then cried, we begin to look forward with great excitement, wondering what God has for us this coming new year. What new experiences will we go through and what new lessons will we learn. It's all fresh and new and that is exciting.

In doing this I believe it helps us to view each year as a season, understanding that God is Sovereign and has new seasons of experiences and growth to make us more like Christ. I can testify there were times we went through seasons of grief and there were also times we experienced seasons of joy.

It helps me to remember that God is in total control and that we are constantly growing as His children and that He knows the plans He has for us. Plans of new wisdom, insight and understanding that He wants to impart to us, if we will allow Him to.

It also gives us a fresh new outlook of the coming year and enables us to leave the past where it belongs, not that we forget the past but learn from it and move forward into our present future with opened hearts and minds to receive whatever God has for us.

With that said, I put together eight ways we can view the New Year and every year as. A Year of:

New Beginnings: Start out the New Year with a fresh point of view to new experiences, memories and blessings. Having an opened mind and heart to where ever the Lord may take you with full assurance and confidence that He is with you. (Matthew 28:19-20)

New Possibilities: There's no limit to what God can do in your life and nothing is impossible with God. God opens doors that no man can shut and also closes doors that no man can open. The possibilities are endless with God that is according to His will. (Philippians 4:13)

New Plans: Every year is a new season, be prayerful of what God has planned for you and be willing to walk by faith in obedience as you follow His leading. Remember that His plans are always for good and not for evil to give you a future and a Hope. (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

New Purpose: As you forge ahead, God always has a plan and a purpose for what you will go through and experience. Remember that God always has a reason for what He allows in your life and through it you can trust Him completely. (Proverbs 1:3-5)

New Provisions: The bible says to not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough worries of it's own. Trust in your Heavenly Father who knows everything you need, who is your God and your Provider. He is faithful and He will do it. (Matthew 6:1-33)

New Growth: When we are willing to let go and let God work in us and through us, He will always stretch us and grow us. It is an important part of the growth process. Continue to grow in your relationship with Him and in His Word. Pray for God to mold you and make you pliable in the potters hand and then watch the master craftsman work on His masterpiece; which is you!

New Wisdom: With new experiences and new lessons come new wisdom and insight. Always make it a priority to seek out wisdom as hidden treasure or fine gold. In Proverbs it says that it will be like a garland of grace around your neck and honor you and present you with a crown of splendor. (Proverbs 4:7-9)

Renewed Peace: As you go through new experiences and new adventures whether they are good or bad, my encouragement is to keep your eyes fixed on Christ and He will give you rest and peace, because He is our peace and loves you and cares for you deeply. (John 16:33)

Keep in mind that if even the wicked give good gifts to their children how much more will your Heavenly Father give to those that ask Him? (Matthew 7:7-11)

Let us give thanks to the Lord for getting us through another year as we look forward to what He has for us up ahead and praise Him that He is faithful and worthy to be praised!

Meditation

Thurman’s poem “Blessings at Year’s End.” After each line, I encourage you to reflect prayerfully in moments of silence.

I remember with gratitude the fruits of the labors of others, which I have shared as a part of the normal experience of daily living.
I remember the beautiful things that I have seen, heard, and felt - some as a result of seeking on my part, and many that came unheralded into my path, warming my heart and rejoicing my spirit.
I remember the moments of distress that proved to be groundless and those that taught me profoundly about the evilness of evil and the goodness of good.
I remember the new people I have met, from whom I have caught glimpses of the meaning of my own life and true character of human dignity.
I remember the dreams that haunted me during the year, keeping me mindful of goals and hopes which I did not realize but from which I drew inspiration to sustain my life and keep steady my purposes.
I remember the awareness of the spirit of God that sought me out in my aloneness and gave to me a sense of assurance that undercut my despair and confirmed my life with new courage and abiding hope.
May the new year bring God’s blessing and peace into your life. Amen.

Rumination

And you, when will you begin that long journey into your self. Rumi

Benediction: The Year Ahead

May God make your year a happy one! Not by shielding us from all sorrows and pain, But by strengthening us to bear it, as it comes; Not by making our path easy, But by making us sturdy to travel any path; Not by taking hardships from us, But by taking fear from our heart; Not by granting us unbroken sunshine, But by keeping our face bright, even in the shadows; Not by making our life always pleasant, But by showing us when people and their causes need us most, and by making us anxious to be there to help. God's love, peace, hope and joy to us for the year ahead. - Author Unknown; Adapted by Debra Mooney

Song: Intimate with the Infinite by Amy Steinberg

CHRISTMAS DAY - Presence over Presents for Christmas

December 26, 2022

Stones on the beach by a dock forming a nativity

Our Advent journey has guided us so that we’ve grown in faith, wrapped ourselves in peace, deepened in love, and delighted in joy. We My Advent journey has guided me as I have grown in faith, wrapped myself in peace, deepened in love, and delighted in joy. I have prepared for a wondrous arrival throughout the Advent season, and now the moment is here—the Christ is about to be born anew. We’ve prepared for a wondrous arrival throughout the Advent season, and now the moment is here—the Christ is about to be born anew.

Sacred Text: Mathew

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[g] (which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,  are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler  who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”[d]

The Christmas Presence is the dynamic flow of the God activity made rich & real as we give way to that flow flowing in, around & through us! Unknown

The bringing forth of the Christ child is not a work that is finished in Bethlehem. It is taking place in our midst every day. It is this we celebrate.”

For as the prophet Isaiah states "unto us a child is born" this Christmas give the best gift to yourself and to the world is the birthing and awareness of the Christ consciousness at the center of the human soul.

Now, the Christ of us is expressed as an exalted Divine Idea. It comes through the interplay of superior intuition (Mary), and heart-centered understanding, (Joseph), particularly when these qualities within us move toward their oneness which unfolds our Christ potential (child) that comes from the activity of Spirit (Holy Ghost).

Jesus Christ was not born in a grand palace. He was not born to very wealthy or learned parents. Also He was not born in the full blaze of daylight with the knowledge of all men. Jesus Christ was born in a simple lowly place, a corner of a stable. He was born to humble and poor parents, who had nothing to boast about, except their own spotless character and holiness. Also He was born in the darkness in the obscure hour of midnight, when no one even knew about it, except a few Divinely blessed people.
IN OUR DARKEST MOMENTS we can birth the Christ what is needed is the faith of Mary, the trust of Joseph, the humility of the shepherds and dedication of the wisemen…

The above point of deep significance tells you that the spiritual awakening comes to the seeker, who is perfectly humble and “meek” and “poor in spirit.” The quality of true humility is one of the indispensable fundamentals. Then we find simplicity, holiness and the renunciation of all desire for worldly wealth and pride of learning.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Blessed are those who are poor in false pride, who are humble and unassuming. Because they are willing to learn, they enjoy growth and spiritual expansion.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who are willing to surrender to God and follow Her Inner guidance for they shall receive perfect and right answers and manifestations in Divine Order.

The Angels sang to the shepherds - Again in the darkness of whatever we’re going through we can receive the messages of God when we’re humble and surrender…

Even as Christ was born unknown to the world and in the obscurity of darkness, even so, the advent of the Christ-spirit takes place in the inwardness of man when there is total self-effacement self-abnegation. Where self-aggrandisement and vanity abide, there the descent of Divinity cannot occur, for these expressions of egotism are ever a bar to the unfoldment of the Divine consciousness. Empty thyself and I shall fill thee—is the Divine admonition of the Lord. The Kingdom of Heaven within is for the lowly in spirit.

This is the birth into a Divine Life. It was the secret of this birth that centuries ago the Lord Jesus sweetly explained to the good Nicodemus. The good man did not quite understand what precisely Christ meant when He taught that a man must be born again if he is to attain the Kingdom of God. “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. Then it was that Christ explains that this birth is inward, not of the body, but in the Spirit. Such inner spiritual birth is essential if the Supreme is to be attained, if true bliss is to be experienced.

“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. John 3

To be “born of water” is to be cleansed of moral impurity, sin and materiality, through denial to experience the awakening that comes to a person who denies to the personal self all dominion over him and gains poise and self-control.

Being “born of the Spirit” is coming into the consciousness of the Divine Law of Being, lifting the whole man up into a new life of harmony and order to experience the realisation of man's inherent God-likeness relating him on the constructive side to the larger life of all, rather than to the limited sphere of his personal life.

Story: The Greatest Christmas Gift By Lysa Allman-Baldwin

Each year as the world prepares for Christmas, I think back to the greatest gift I have ever received—my awareness of the Christ within and the crisis of faith that led me to discover it anew. Faith helped me pull myself out of the depths when the life I knew began to fall away. Seven years ago, my world fell apart when several crises happened in succession over a six-month period. I would have been able to cope ably with any single one, but not so many all at once. The first was the accidental death of our family pet, which devastated my children and me. The sudden, unexplained departure of my boyfriend, the love of my life, was next. After that, I was left to face my son’s scheduled surgery alone, as my ex-husband was absent even though we shared custody. I felt the weight of prolonged financial strain. My health was tanking. I was spent emotionally and no longer able to cope with any part of my life. Everything was changing, and I didn’t have control over any of it. I spiraled into an abyss. I was stressed-out, desperate, and angry. I cried all the time. Unable to focus, I felt as though I was failing at everything. I felt alone. Worse, even though I was active in my spiritual community and received its support, I found myself unable to grasp the spiritual tools I had spent years learning about and putting to use. I prayed, asking why so many painful things were happening to me: I’m a good person, and I’m trying so hard. I share my abundance, practice forgiveness, meditate, and pray. I’m doing everything in my power to live a spiritual life, and I can’t catch a break. Why, God, why? I felt as though my faith was the only thing I had to rely upon, and even it felt dim and far away. But somewhere deep within myself, I knew faith would be the bridge that would connect the life I had known to the life I was being called to create. When the life I knew fell away, faith was the light that led me into a new way of being. I thought of Mary and Joseph and the faith it took to journey to Bethlehem under unfamiliar and challenging circumstances. I found parallels in my journey back to myself. If someone had told me then that I would look back on this experience as one of the best things that ever happened to me, I wouldn’t have believed it. But feeling so irretrievably broken, so hopeless and defeated, opened me and made me receptive to my guidance, the voice of God within me. Like Mary and Joseph, I listened. I embarked on my healing journey when I went back to counseling and tapped into early life experiences, the roots of my current troubles. And, like Mary, my labor helped me birth something divine. I could have stayed broken. I could have repeated dysfunctional patterns again and again. But following the light of faith, however far off into the unknown, helped me understand the power was within me to create a new life of security, serenity, and love. These days, my life overflows with gifts—connection, prosperity, and unbridled joy. But none is so great as the gift I received in my darkest hour—the gift of faith restored and awareness of the Christ within reborn.

Poem: The Color of Love Robert Hawkins The Hawks Quill

When I started writing this poem, I was thinking about the "colors" of Christmas. The first stanza was initially written with the word black instead of bleak. But as I was rereading it and thinking it over, the abstractness of bleakness just felt right. I really liked the way it turned out.

Bleak is the color of longing tonight;
Clouds hide the stars and the full moon from sight.
Huddled together by fires they keep,
Shepherds stay vigilant, watching their sheep.
Off in the distance, Jerusalem lies —
City of Peace — under turbulent skies.
Long, they’ve been promised a king of their own —
Waiting while others have taken the throne.
Such is the color of hope.
Tears are the color of promises kept,
Once shed in secret, now openly wept.
Why would her God — the Creator of all —
Choose for His purpose a maiden so small?
Abraham, Jacob, and David are gone,
Yet through their bloodline His promise lives on.
Now, to this world the Savior has come;
Gently, she kisses the cheek of God’s Son.
Such is the color of faith.
Music’s the color of angels on earth,
Witnessed by shepherds the night of His birth.
Shielding their eyes — on their knees in the field,
Blinded by glory the heavens revealed.
Servants of heaven — with thunderous voice —
Echo the news for all men to rejoice.
Mountaintops shake while the vast heavens ring,
Glory to God in the highest, they sing.
Such is the color of joy.

Pure is the color of gifts from the heart,
Brought by the wisemen who followed the star.
Into the desert with no other course,
Save for the light from that mystical source.
Star over Bethlehem — piercing the night;
Prayer turns to praise as their faith turns to sight.
Treasures are laid at His feet where He stood —
Feet that will one day be nailed into wood.
Such is the color of love.

Christmas Mediation

On this glad Christmas Day lift up your heart and voice in praise and thanksgiving for the realisation that the Christ Spirit has been born into your consciousness.

How wonderful to know that all that is negative and limiting such as fear and doubt are forever dissolved in the light of His love.

How assuring to know that you are never alone, that the radiant star of the Christ love momentarily shines in you, to guide you every step of your way.

How incredibly to know the healing life of the eternally newborn Christ radiates through every cell of your being.

How magnificent to know that the radiant ideas of the Christ mind flood your consciousness,

Let us celebrate and give thanks for the power of the new born Christ in us as it blesses us and blesses others as we speak the Living Christ word..

Inhale and Affirm
Thank you Beloved Father Mother God for our dear ones, near and far…
Inhale and Affirm
Thank you for present joys and remembered miracles
Inhale and Affirm
Thank you for the gift of Christ born in our hearts this day
Inhale and Affirm
Thank you for the gift of life, the gift of light, the gift of substance, the gift of peace, the gift of wisdom , the gift of power.
Inhale and Affirm
Thank you for the gifts we give and the gifts we receive.
Inhale and Affirm
Thank you of the love outpoured this Christmas Day, the love that enfolds family and friends and lightens the hearts of the lonely, the love that makes us know of our oneness with Him who is love itself.
Inhale and affirm
Thank you Mother Father God for every blessing especially on this Christmas Day for the Christ reborn in our hearts and lives.

Rumination: I Place My Gifts” by Howard Thurman

I place my gifts on my altar this Christmas:
Gifts that are mine, as the years are mine.

The quiet hopes that flood the earnest cargo of my dreams
The best of all good things for those I love.

A fresh new trust for all whose faith is dim.
The love of life, a most precious gift in reach of us all:
Seeing in the acts of each day, the seeds of tomorrow.

Finding in the struggle, the strength for renewal,
Seeking in each person, the face of kinship.

I place these gifts on my altar this Christmas
Gifts that are mine, as the years are mine….

Amidst all of its whirl and activity, may this Christmas bring you To your heart’s altar; there to receive a sustaining grace; the gifts of renewal and healing, the gift of stillness, and peace

Benediction

May you be filled with the wonder and intuition of Mary, the obedience and heart centred understanding of Joseph, the joy and light of the angels, the eagerness and exuberance of the shepherds, the determination and expectation of the magi, and the peace and tranquility of the Christ child. May Almighty Mother Father God, bless you now and forever. Amen

Song: We the Kingdom - Christmas Day by CHRIS Tomlin

Advent a season of preparation

December 18, 2022

5 candles on candle sticks over green musk on table top

The word advent comes from the Latin, which means arrival. It is a coming into view of something, usually referring to the coming of Christ, traditionally, into the mass of Christ or Christmas. In other words, it's getting prepared for a personal experience or visitation of the Christ. In a metaphysical sense, it can, and I think should mean to all of us, an expectation of and a preparation for the coming into our consciousness of our own divine potential, our own Christ self.

Christmas represents the divine child born in each of us and the divine attributes we can develop as we learn to express our God nature in human form.

we must take the risk of personal commitment to the discovery of a divine level within our being. It is this that we refer to as the great adventure of a lifetime.

When we talk about the adventure of life, we're not dealing with a flight into fancy, but with a very real process of harnessing the real energies of the universe as they come into focus in, and through, and as man.

other a words for Advent: aware, alive, attentive, alert, awake, are all appropriate! Advent is, above else, a call to full consciousness and a forewarning about the high price of consciousness.

The four Sundays of Advent proclaim aspects of our divine nature—hope and faith, peace, love, and joy.

“In this day, this season, miracles will grow within, unfurl, bear fruit. And the heart that makes time and space for Him to come will be a glorious place.”

— Ann Voskamp

Remember love is the only thing okay to do in excess.

“Out of the darkness, into the light: the time before Christmas is the time of light and mutual love.”
Sir Kristian Goldmund Aumann

“Advent is not about a sentimental waiting for the Baby Jesus.”
Richard Rohr

“Advent is not about a sentimental waiting for the Baby Jesus,” Richard Rohr asserts. Advent is a time to focus our expectations and anticipation on “the adult Christ, the Cosmic Christ,” who challenges us to empty ourselves, to lose ourselves, to surrender.

Poem: Our Faith/Hope - Our Joy - Our Peace, By Deborah Ann Belka

May the God of our eternal hope, fill you with endless love and peace may you find your true happiness for He is right within your reach.
May His joy descend around you, like a beam falling from the sun may you be bathed in the serenity of the love from His begotten Son.
May His hope fill you to the brim, with everlasting gladness and delight may you join paradise’s jubilation and come to know His saving light.
May you know the calm of His grace, and the abounding sense of bliss may you give your heart to Jesus so heaven you’ll not miss.
May Jesus fill you with His strength, and with the Holy Spirit’s power may you come to know the truth and accept His love for you this hour!

POEM 2: UNTITLED

Gift to me, O Lord, I pray
 Fruits that only Thou can give
 Fill my heart with grace and truth 
Love, joy and peace 
And all things good

POEM 3: The Mood of Christmas…”  by Howard Thurman

I will light Candles this Christmas, 
Candles of joy despite all the sadness, 
Candles of hope where despair keeps watch, 
Candles of courage for fears ever present, 
Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days, 
Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens, 
Candles of love to inspire all my living, 
Candles that will burn all year long.

Sacred Text

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Galatians 5:22

The true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”
John 1:9

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

Story: Written by Calvary Ballard

Recently, my son came home from school asking me about his heritage. He had to do a project in a cardboard box with different symbols of family traditions (no, he is not in Elementary School, this is actually High School!) I promptly stated that his dad is more than one quarter Norwegian, as am I, so that would be a good place to start. I started sharing with him about all the Christmas traditions I had as a child, such as wearing a Norwegian apron that my grandma made me on Christmas Day , the Norwegian prayer I got to memorize and recite since I was the youngest grandchild, the opening of presents on Christmas Eve (this one was Mark’s), and the krumkake that was made every year (both of us), yum. I was a little bit taken aback by the fact that Isaac had no idea what I was talking about. His comment was, “How come we didn’t do that? What were our traditions?”
Guilt, guilt, guilt. As every parent knows, this is a total recipe for parental guilt. Why DIDN’T we carry on those traditions for Christmas? Did we do any traditions with the boys? What were we thinking? Were we thinking? And then I remembered ADVENT. Yes, we did have a Christmas tradition, and it was one that I loved, and I could also claim it was a tradition in Norway- a little bit of heritage.
Advent means “coming” and is the preparation for the coming of Christ. Our tradition involved lighting a candle on an advent wreath every Sunday, for the four Sundays before Christmas, with the 5th and central candle, being lit on Christmas Eve. It was a build-up to Christmas- to the ultimate celebration. For us it was family time. We put out our advent wreath on the Sunday, a week after Thanksgiving, and then made sure to sit down for a meal together, light that week’s candle and then have a short bible reading/discussion about what the candle symbolized. We started this tradition at a time when the boys were really small. Mark wrote a devotion for each week, talking about God’s character and His gift to us.
The first candle, lit on the first Sunday of December, symbolizes God as our Creator. We read Genesis 1:1- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” and Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them: male and female he created them.” We then talk about creativity and how can we be creative-creative in our work, our hobbies, our lives, and how this points others to our Creator.
Week two is a devotion about how God is our Father. 1 John 3:1 says “Behold, what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” John 1:2 “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” God’s love for us is overwhelming. He loves us so much that he gave His Son, Jesus, whose coming we are celebrating (for the entire month.)
God is our friend. John 15:15 says, “no longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” We have been entrusted with the message of Christ- not as servants but as dearly loved friends of God. He loved us first, and our relationship with Him brings joy, both to us and to Him.
God is our Savior, through Jesus’ birth and resurrection. John 3:16- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” And this is the gospel- the good news! Because of Christ’s birth and resurrection, we are forgiven and brought back into a right relationship with our God.
And finally, the central candle is lit on Christmas Eve, and the nativity story is read. The culmination of what we have been looking forward to. We talk about God’s present (Jesus) and then open our presents. And eat cookies and drink hot cider. Of course.
I’ve seen many wonderful meanings of the candles when looking up advent online. The weeks may symbolize hope, preparation, joy and love; or the colors represent different things-3 purple candles for prayer, penance and preparation with the pink representing rejoicing. And there were others, but they all point to the same thing- the birth of our Savior.

Rumination

God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.
Rumi

Benediction

May you Be people of faith. Let faith live in your heart and share the faith of Christ with all you meet. Share faith by noticing someone else’s humanity. Share faith by listening to someone’s story. Share faith by praying for our world. In this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share faith. As you go out into the wonder of God’s creations, share faith with those you meet.
May you Be people of peace. Let peace live in your heart and share the peace of Christ with all you meet. Share peace by acting out of compassion and not fear. Share peace by listening to all sides of the story. Share peace by praying for our world. In this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share peace. As you go out into the wonder of God’s creations, share peace and hope with those you meet.
 May you Be people of joy. Let joy live in your heart and share the joy of Christ with all you meet. Share joy by seeing the good in each other. Share joy by remembering good times and trusting for good times to come. Share joy by praying for our world. In this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share joy. As you go out into the wonder of God’s creations, share joy, peace, and hope with those you meet. Amen.
 May you Be people of love. Let love live in your heart and share the love of Christ with all you meet. Share love by loving those you see regularly. Start by loving your community. Share love by loving those you do not know. How do your actions affect the rest of God’s creation? Share love by praying for our world. In this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share love. As you go out into the wonder of God’s creations, share love, joy, peace, and hope with those you meet. Amen.

Song: Lift up your eyes by Danny Gokey

God is our sufficiency in all things

December 4, 2022

We each have the choice in any setting to step back and let go of the mind-set of scarcity. Once we let go of scarcity, we discover the surprising truth of sufficiency. By sufficiency, I don’t mean a quantity of anything. Sufficiency isn’t two steps up from poverty or one step short of abundance. It isn’t a measure of barely enough or more than enough. Sufficiency isn’t an amount at all. It is an experience, a context we generate, a declaration, a knowing that there is enough, and that we are enough.
In our relationship with money, it is using money in a way that expresses our integrity; using it in a way that expresses value rather than determines value. Sufficiency is not a message about simplicity or about cutting back and lowering expectations. Sufficiency doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive or aspire. Sufficiency is an act of generating, distinguishing, making known to ourselves the power and presence of our existing resources, and our inner resources. Sufficiency is a context we bring forth from within that reminds us that if we look around us and within ourselves, we will find what we need. Lynne Twist

If something is adequate, there is enough of it, but only just enough.
If there is sufficient quantity of something, this suggests that there is as much of it as you need.

Sacred Text

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.
2 Corinthians 3:5

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8

Poem BY Vivian Fabreggs

One lie is enough to break a trust  one sentence is enough to break a heart,  one second is enough to lose the battle,  and one smile is enough to fall in love.  One mistake is enough to lose a job,  one touch is enough to heal a wounded heart  but whatever our pain,  whatever our struggle  our God is more enough.

the second advent candle

The tradition for the second Sunday of Advent includes lighting the second purple candle that is a symbol of faith.
As you light the second advent candle, may God’s spirit prepare your heart to receive Jesus as your king. May God’s grace abound in your life in this season of holy anticipation.

Story (original STORY BY Bob Perks)

I overheard a father and daughter at an airport in their last moments together. They had announced her plane’s departure, and standing near the door; he said to his daughter, “I love you; I wish you enough.”
She said, “Daddy, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Daddy.” They kissed goodbye, and she left.
He walked over toward the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, “Did you ever say goodbye to someone knowing it would be forever?” “Yes, I have,” I replied.
Saying that brought back memories of expressing my love and appreciation for all my Dad had done for me. Recognizing that his days were limited, I took the time to tell him face to face how much he meant to me. So I knew what this man was experiencing.
“Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever goodbye?” I asked.
“I am old, and she lives much too far away. I have challenges ahead, and the reality is, her next trip back will be for my funeral, ” he said.
“When you were saying goodbye I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?”
He began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.” He paused for a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail; he smiled even more.
“When we said ‘I wish you enough,’ we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with enough good things to sustain them,” he continued and then turning toward me he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
“I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish enough “Hello’s” to get you through the final “Goodbye.”  “When you were saying goodbye I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?”
He began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.” He paused for a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail; he smiled even more.
“When we said ‘I wish you enough,’ we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with enough good things to sustain them,” he continued and then turning toward me he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
“I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish enough “Hello’s” to get you through the final “Goodbye.”  

Rumination

“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.”
Rumi

Benediction

(Translated by Mark Hathaway at Raydiantlife.com)
O Source of the Radiance, dancing in and about all that is, free us from all constrictions, so that the current of your life may move in us without hindrance. Fill us with thy creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your vision. Moving to the heartbeat of your purpose, make us the embodiment of your compassion. Empty us of frustrated hopes and desires, as we restore others to a renewal of vision. Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the possibilities of the present moment. For you are the ground of the fruitful vision, the birthing-power and the fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole, once again. Amen.

December Christmas songs: Matt Maher He Shall Reign for evermore

Why we need both daily Gratitude and Thanksgiving

November 27, 2022

A hand holding a tag that has the word grateful on it

The Difference Between Gratitude and Thankfulness

Thankfulness is a Reaction When something good or exciting happens, it is easy to be thankful. We appreciate the warm feelings that come with gifts or happy news. Thankfulness involves how we feel in the moment, and like all feelings, eventually, it fades. Thankfulness is a temporary emotional response to a temporary circumstance.

However, thankfulness is not enough to keep us in a positive mindset. Setbacks and things that we are most certainly not thankful for will always interfere with our thankfulness. Because of this, we must rely on other ways to maintain a positive attitude. One such way is by expressing gratitude.

Gratitude is a Chosen State of Being
Where thankfulness is an emotion, gratitude is an attitude of appreciation under any circumstance. Gratitude involves being thankful, but it is more than that. Gratitude means expressing thankfulness and being appreciative of life daily even when nothing exciting happens.

Gratitude is your decision that the day is a good day even when evidence points to the opposite. You do not need something good to happen to have gratitude, and when bad things happen, your gratitude does not falter. You know that sad things are just a part of life, and you are happy with the life you lead.

By choosing to cultivate gratitude in your life, you are actively improving your health and well-being. A study from the University of California Berkeley states, “Research suggests that gratitude may be associated with many benefits for individuals, including better physical and psychological health, increased happiness and life satisfaction, Gratitude is about being content physically and mentally with the state of your life. You may not always be happy, but you can still practice gratitude.

“May your heart be an altar, from which the bright flame of unending thanksgiving ascends to heaven.”

— St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier

Gratitude challenge on LIK

When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Tecumseh

I join my hands in thanks for the many wonders of life; for having twenty four brand-new hours before me.
THICH NHAT HANH 

And it turns out there is a growing body of research which shows there are many psychological benefits to being grateful, including feeling happier and lowering stress, depression and anxiety.

Not only that, there is also scientific evidence that expressing genuine gratitude on a daily basis can improve physical health as well by improving quality of sleep, cardiovascular (heart) health and immune function.

1. Thankfulness improves relationships

Everyone has a need and desire to be appreciated—spouses, children, parents, friends, coworkers, even the strangers we meet in passing. Oprah once said, "The common denominator that I've found in every single interview is that we all want to be validated. We want to be understood.” So when we express gratitude for people, we not only meet their needs and lift their spirits, but we make them feel validated. And that improves the quality of our relationships with them.

2. Thankfulness creates contentment

Media messages are constantly telling us to buy more, do more, look like this, or act like that. With so much distraction, it can be difficult to appreciate what you have right now. But by choosing to be thankful, you can ignore these messages and embrace contentment. As my friend Rachel Cruze says, “In a heart filled with gratitude, there is no room for discontentment.”

3. Thankfulness feels good

You know how happy we feel around Thanksgiving? We can continue to feel that way long after the turkey and dressing are gone. How? All we have to do is count our blessings and turn our hearts and thoughts toward gratitude. The warm and fuzzy feelings will follow.

4. Thankfulness keeps us healthy

Even though the holidays represent a stressful time for many of us, reflecting on what we’re thankful for actually reduces stress. "Gratitude research is beginning to suggest that feelings of thankfulness have tremendous positive value in helping people cope with daily problems, especially stress," says University of California Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons. He goes on to explain that gratitude and optimism can even boost our immune system. When we stop focusing on what we don’t have, and begin focusing on everything we do have, our shoulders relax and we invite peace, patience, and health into our lives.

5. Thankfulness cultivates humility

Arrogance and ungratefulness go hand and hand. But the opposite is also true. When we choose to be thankful for the big and small blessings in our lives, we foster a heart of humility and a spirit of graciousness.

6. Thankfulness is contagious

Just as fear and worry are contagious, so is the spread of gratitude. When we’re inspired by others’ gratefulness, it prompts our own grateful thoughts and actions as well. We can be the catalysts that spread gratitude in our homes, offices and communities.

7. Thankfulness produces positivity

When we’re thankful, the natural byproduct is that we become more positive people. There are endless daily annoyances that can bring us down and steal our joy. But when we’re intentionally thankful, it naturally redirects our thoughts to see the good in other people and in our everyday lives.

8. Thankfulness promotes generosity

It’s tough to be givers when our eyes are always on our own needs. When we are thankful for what we have, we can hold our blessings with an open hand and freely give to others. And when we realize how abundantly we are blessed, we can confidently and joyfully become a blessing to others.

9. Thankfulness increases likability

It’s fair to say no one wants to be around an ungrateful, entitled individual. Yet we all enjoy spending time with grateful, down-to-earth folks. When you are grateful, people see you in a positive light and they naturally like you and want to be around you.

10. Thankfulness displays God’s character

The Bible is full of passages on gratitude and thankfulness. It’s used in commands, parables, and prayers. This quality is important to God! So when we actively practice gratefulness, we become more of who God created us to be. Plus, we also get to connect with Him through our thankful thoughts and prayers. Unlike talent, gratitude is something that’s freely available to all of us and completely within our control. It’s not a special “gifting” that some people have and others don’t. It’s not a feeling that floats through the air at the end of each November.

What am I grateful for in my life right now? Why?
What blessings does this season offer in my life?
What situation is offering me the opportunity to handle it gracefully?
What has surprised me lately?
When I consider a difficult situation and the impact it had on me, can I identify an aspect of the situation (or impact) that I can feel grateful about?
What unexpected things have brought me gratitude?
What challenging situations have brought out the best in me?
What act of kindness did I notice or experience today?
How might I show appreciation for the people in my life?
What can I commit to not taking for granted from this moment forward?

Sacred Text

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

Be not you not like those who honour their gods in prosperity and curse them in adversity. In pleasure or pain, give thanks!
Judaism - Mekilta, Exodus 20.20

Do not turn away what is given you,
Nor reach out what is given to others,
Lest you disturb quietness.
Give thanks
For what has been given you,
However little.
The Dhammmapada, Ch 25

Story

Two old friends met each other on the street one day. One looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, “What has the world done to you, my old friend?”
The sad fellow said, “Let me tell you: three weeks ago, my uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars.”
“That’s a lot of money.”
“But you see, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me eighty-five thousand dollars, free and clear.”
“Sounds to me that you’ve been very blessed.”

“You don’t understand!” he interrupted. “Last week my great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million from her.”
Now the man’s friend was really confused. “Then, why do you look so glum?”
“This week . . . nothing!”
That’s a problem with receiving something on a regular basis. Even if it is a gift, we eventually come to expect it. The natural tendency is that if we receive a gift long enough, we come to view it almost as an entitlement. We feel hurt, even angry, if we don’t receive it any longer.
It is the same way with the blessings God gives us every day. I don’t deserve my comfortable home that I live in, the beautiful scenery around me, the clean water I drink. But after receiving these gifts (and a multitude of others) for years, I sometimes fail to be grateful. I’ve come to expect these good things. And when one of them is removed for a short time (like water or electricity or internet going down), I get upset.
Let’s make an effort today to recognize the blessing we’ve come to take for granted. Focus on what we have rather than on what we don’t have, and see if it doesn’t improve our attitudes.

Take time to enjoy something you own but have ignored — a piece of jewelry or a flower vase — and express your gratitude for its beauty by dusting it off and using it.
Go on a quiet, meditative walk through your house. Stop and say prayers of thanks for all the good experiences you have had in each room.
Choose one thing you use every day — perhaps a favorite pen or a cooking pot — and say a prayer over it, acknowledging how it helps you serve others and God.
Wash your car or clean your telephone and tell God how much you appreciate how these things help you make connections with other people.
Find a special way to express your gratitude to a part of your body; for example, give your feet a good massage

Poem: Thanksgiving BY Ella Wheeler Cox

We walk on starry fields of white
   And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
   We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
   To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
   Of pleasures sweet and tender.

Our cares are bold and push their way
   Upon our thought and feeling.
They hand about us all the day,
   Our time from pleasure stealing.
So unobtrusive many a joy
   We pass by and forget it,
But worry strives to own our lives,
   And conquers if we let it.

There’s not a day in all the year
   But holds some hidden pleasure,
And looking back, joys oft appear
   To brim the past’s wide measure.
But blessings are like friends, I hold,
   Who love and labor near us.
We ought to raise our notes of praise
   While living hearts can hear us.

Full many a blessing wears the guise
   Of worry or of trouble;
Far-seeing is the soul, and wise,
   Who knows the mask is double.
But he who has the faith and strength
   To thank his God for sorrow
Has found a joy without alloy
   To gladden every morrow.

We ought to make the moments notes
   Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days a silent phrase
   Of music we are living.
And so the theme should swell and grow
   As weeks and months pass o’er us,
And rise sublime at this good time,
   A grand Thanksgiving chorus.

Rumination

“Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.”
Rumi

Benediction

The maker of humanity whom resides every where Present, the most precious & divine.
May your loving way resound everlasting.
Maintain your sustenance & your gracious way which is so unlike ours.
Guide & direct our path to that which is wholesome.
We recognise, respect & bow to your exclusive divinity always and ever lasting/
Monica

Song: Thank you by Ben Rector

Things left undone

November 20, 2022

“There is an art of leaving things undone so that the greater thing can be done”

— Jill Briscoe

Things left undone because:

Laziness
Lack of Motivation
Fear of Failure/Criticism
Doubt Uncertainty
Not knowing how to start
Angst/Anxiety about starting
Habit Weakness
Resisting Challenges
Lack of energy
Task aversionAvoidance
Trouble focusing
Fail to prioritise
Helplessness in the face of complexity...

Make a to-do list...
Prioritise...
Set deadlines, and get a friend to check on how you're doing with meeting them...
Balance getting stuff done with getting enough rest and having fun...
Manage stress...
Be realistic...
Don't be afraid to ask for help.
Reward yourself

Sacred Text

Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

Story

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
Pablo Picasso

Hmmm.... I just started thinking about all the jobs that I had on my list yesterday (and last week) that I didn't get done (let's be honest, that's most days) and mentally ranking them in importance. How many were so important that they will screw up my week, derail my master plan or end up hurting me or someone else?
On the flip side, if they were important tasks that I had set myself, why did I not complete them? Was it that they were less important than the other tasks I got done? Did I just forget (of course not) or was it simply I was prepared to accept the delays and impacts of not getting them done? If I were to die tomorrow - would any of those unattended tasks really matter?
What about you? Were there any mission critical tasks that just rolled over into the next day?
For me, the answer is a combination of all. There were most definitely tasks that I had set as urgent that I needed to get done to progress my strategic plan - but I let other things distract me. Many of those distractions were not that important either when I reflect on it.
Now those tasks are sitting in front of me staring accusingly at me from my to-do list with a cocked eyebrow, crossed arms and a tapping foot.... and my grand plan is stalled by not getting on with it.
However, if I died today, I don't think any of my un-actioned tasks or goals from yesterday would have left a void in my existence or disrupted the universe.

Except those deeply personal matters.
Is there someone who I owe a call to?
Have I left a favour to me unthanked?
Did I tell those people who matter most how much they mean to me?
Hmmmm... maybe there are a few things I would not like to leave undone.
How about you?
So, it's a new day, a new week and I would encourage you to do as I am going to do this week - embrace every day with the words of Pablo Picasso headlining every page of the daily "to do" list.

A reminder to not put off what must be done today. Whether that be updating your cv, applying for that job, implementing that new structure, writing your business plan, going for a run, taking your partner out for dinner, heading to the park with the kids, writing that blog post or booking that family holiday - Carpe diem!!!

Poem: The Sin of Omission BY Margaret E. Sangster, 1838 - 912 (extract)

It isn’t the thing you do, dear,
It’s the thing you leave undone
That gives you a bit of a heartache
At setting of the sun.
The tender word forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flowers you did not send, dear,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.

Today and Tomorrow by J E Carpenter

Don’t tell me of tomorrow
Give me the man who’ll say
That, when a good deed today
‘Let’s do the deed today.’
We may all command the present,
If we act and never wait,
But repentance is the Phantom
Of a past comes too late!
Don’t tell me of tomorrow
There is much to do today
That could never be accomplished,
If we throw the hours away.
Every moment has its duty,
Who the future can foretell?
Then why put off till tomorrow
What today can do as well?

Rumination

Both light and shadow are the dance of Love.
Rumi

Benediction

Translated by Mark Berry,  a young pastor of a church in the UK.
O Breathing Life, your Name shines everywhere!  Release a space to plant your Presence here. Imagine your possibilities now. Embody your desire in every light and form. Grow through us this moment’s bread and wisdom. Untie the knots of failure binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others’ faults. Help us not forget our Source, Yet free us from not being in the Present. From you arises every Vision, Power and Song from gathering to gathering. Amen.

Song: Allen Up by Tauren Wells and Jimmie

Invitation to Re Interpret the Lords prayers

November 13, 2022

Remembrance Sunday

Minute Silence

A prayer for peacemakers

“Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.”

— George Herbert

History can inspire or trap.
Walls can protect or divide.
Words can encourage or inflame.
Power can free or destroy.
Touch can comfort or violate.
Peace can be shared or withheld.
Gracious God, on this day,
when we remember past and present conflicts,
we pray for the divided peoples of the world,
that leaders, governments and each one of us
may use our resources,
our opportunities and our lives
in the service of reconciliation,
for the sake of future generations
and to the glory of your name.
Amen.

Poem

O Cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration!
Soften the ground of our being and carve out a space where your Presence can abide.
Fill us with your creativity that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission.
Let each of our actions bare fruit in accordance with your desire.
Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish.
Untie the tangles threads of destiny that binds us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes.
Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment.
For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth - power and fulfilment, as all is gathered and made whole once again.

Translated and Interpreted from the Aramaic by Mark Hathaway

Sacred Text and Story

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer

11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,[a] hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]And lead us not into temptation.[d]’”
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;
6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’
7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

This prayer given to us by Jesus contains some of the most beautiful, inspiring, and helpful ideas that we could possibly need. The prayer reminds us of some great truths about ourselves and our relationship with God. It reminds us of the tremendous, unlimited potential that is within us that we have not as yet come to recognize. Contemplating these ideas will help us to grow in our spiritual awareness of them so that God can do more through us.

The words “Our Father”Understand our relationship to God represent the creative capacity of God that is within every individual. These words remind us of the close, intimate relationship that is possible with God, a relationship in which we depend upon God totally for all that we need. God is our Creator, our Source of happiness, joy, health, supply, security, or whatever is needed. Many times we turn to the outer world seeking someone or some-thing to fulfill some need in our lives. But there is nothing in this outer world that can make us happy. No person can make us happy and no set of circumstances can make us happy or successful. When we make the inner contact we will find outer fulfillment and we may think the outer is the cause but it is the inner relationship with God that is the Real Cause. God in us is the Source of all the energy and creative capacity that we will ever express. Our present human awareness may be limited but this inner Source is never limited. When we affirm “Our Father” we are acknowledging our oneness with this creative Source and this is something that we must do constantly, every day, and in meeting every experience in life.

“Who art in heaven.” These words remind many or at least stimulate them to think of heaven as a place up in the sky. Many are looking forward to going to some “place” that they believe to be somewhere in this universe where things will be peaceful and blissful. But heaven is not a place; it is a state of consciousness, a condition of the soul. When we are in tune with God and are in harmony with universal law we are in heaven, we are in a peaceful state of consciousness, a powerful and masterful state of consciousness and experience. When we are out of tune, when we violate spiritual principle, then we experience what has been termed “hell.” We experience guilt feelings, frustration, and other negative emotions and feelings. We should remember that God is omnipresent. As for our contact with God we have this contact in us and we might therefore think of God dwelling in the heaven within us.

“Hallowed be Thy name.”Understanding God’s identity
This means to consciously acknowledge and accept and believe that God is all-powerful. There are times when we are confronted with problems and challenges and it seems that even God is powerless to do anything about them. But this is not the case. God is all-powerful. He only needs more of us to believe this so that He can express His greater good through us. We may not always be in tune to the degree necessary for a greater expression of God-power but we can stand firm in our faith and know that God is all-powerful and that one day when we are properly prepared in consciousness we will see and experience the manifestation of this power. We are in the process of growing and developing and we may need to practice and prepare ourselves. The personal ego wants to do everything immediately and it also wants to avoid all strenuous effort to achieve something good. But things do not happen that way as a general rule. The miracle comes when the consciousness is developed. It will take willingness on our part to practice daily the art of true prayer. It will take patience on our part to let ourselves grow instead of running to and fro grasping after metaphysical straws. So we affirm “All-powerful is Thy nature” in the face of the most trying circumstances and we learn to stand firm and face what needs to be faced instead of running from it.

“Thy kingdom come.” Understanding God’s kingdom
At the time of Jesus many believed that God would soon come and set up a kingdom on earth by eliminating all the evil people and evil nations. Many Christians still expect that this may happen sometime soon. They have not realized that the kingdom that is to come is not an outer kingdom. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” The coming of the kingdom is the dawning in consciousness of the inner Presence of God. When the perfect realization comes it is usually very staggering. It is more than an intellectual experience.

“Thy will be done.” Understanding God’s will
We should never be reluctant to affirm this portion of the prayer for God’s will for us is good, only good, and nothing but the good. This doesn’t mean that we try to make sense out of tragedies that we may bring into our lives due to lack of understanding or ignorance or even willfulness. God does not cause tragedies. If we are to experience the good will of God we must be willing to put aside our personal will, ambitions, goals or whatever and let ourselves be totally open and receptive to God’s guidance. Personal goals are always limited and we should be willing to give them up for God’s spiritual goals for our lives. When we say as Jesus said, “Not my will, but thine be done,” we will have unlimited goals and opportunities to express in life, goals and opportunities that we could never dream up with the human use of the imagination. God will always help us grow beyond our human limitations. Therefore we should affirm with this portion of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy good be done.”

“In earth as it is in heaven.” Understanding God’s divide
This means that we want all outer manifestations to be in harmony with principle, with God’s good will. We only want to meet all problems and challenges in principle. The ego often wants to meet them in a personal way through hate, resentment, or by fighting. But we must learn to let love through as forgiveness and overcoming evil with good as Jesus suggested.

“Give us this day our daily bread.” Gathering our inheritance
I don’t believe Jesus was referring simply to food and other physical needs. According to Jesus God is more willing to give than we are prepared to receive. So in truth there is no need to even ask. Certainly there is no need to beg and plead. Jesus said, “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” He also told the stories about how God made the flowers of the field more beautiful than Solomon and how he provides for the needs of even the sparrow. He then reminded us that we were of more value than these. Our daily bread is the daily inspiration we receive in our time of meditation. Our daily bread is spiritual ideas, guidance, and wisdom that we receive directly from Him who dwells within us. If we give expression to the inner guidance, the outer provisions will always be there when they are needed. This portion of the prayer is encouraging us to move from the begging and pleading consciousness to the consciousness of faith and expectation.

“And forgive us our debts, Removing our hindrances as we forgive our debtors.” This is a great challenge that Jesus is giving us. When we say this we are saying in so many words that we want God to forgive us in the same way that we may or may not forgive others who have offended us. We are asking that God express the same intensity of love or hate toward us that we may express toward someone else. We do not have to be concerned that God would hate us or be reluctant to forgive us for He always does that. Jesus is just reminding us that forgiveness is important to spiritual growth.

“And lead us not into temptation.” Overcoming our pride
The Greek word translated as temptation could also be translated as trial or test or persecution. It was believed by many at the time of Jesus that before the kingdom of God came on earth there would be a great trial and it was known as the temptation. Many who were not strong in their faith would give in to the so-called evil one. This is no doubt more of an expression of some human personality than it is of Jesus. God would not lead us into temptation. God does not send trials or tests to us. God knows us. He knows where we are in consciousness and what experiences we need to grow. God only leads us further into the light.

“But deliver us from evil.” Overcoming our ego
If God is the only Presence and Power there can be no evil power. There can only be human willfulness in using or expressing God power in negative ways. We do want to be delivered in consciousness from the misuse of the God power that we are. We want to be delivered from doubt and ignorance. We are asking therefore for God’s help in realizing that there is an answer to every problem we are faced with and that we should never doubt that, even if we do not have an immediate realization or answer. If we will stand firm in the face of any challenge, we will get the answer. If we give up, there will be no answer for the time being.

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen.” Understanding God Time
This portion of the prayer is a later addition. The prayer was no doubt used in religious services as we use it today. Additions and changes over the years became accepted. If you are interested to see in the Bible that this is true, compare the two versions of the Lord’s Prayer. One version, probably the older version, is in the eleventh chapter of Luke. The later version, according Biblical scholars, is the one in the sixth chapter of Matthew. This portion of the prayer adds a beautiful conclusion. It is the supreme acknowledgment of God’s power. When the individual is ready, the kingdom will come personally. It will be a glorious experience. Many have known this glory. All their problems may not have been instantly or fully worked out but they know they are moving in the right direction. That right direction is the inner direction, moving to a closer relationship with God.

Rumination

The soul has been given its own ears to hear things the mind does not understand.
Rumi

Benediction

Breath of Life and Light that radiates in and through us and all of life and creation.
Blessed are we as we realise and align with the Oneness that is everywhere present at every point in space and time…
Inspire us daily with your creativity and wisdom; that we might express authentically to our fullest potential in all our ways and actions.
Thank you for meeting our every need in perfect & timely ways!
Help us to embody compassion enabling us to forgive ourselves and others for our shortcomings and failures as there is no judgment in You.
Empower us to release any hindrances or limitations that bind us to the past; so that we may live more fully in the present, with passion, purpose and possibility!
Eternal gratitude for Your Endless Grace, Your Ever abiding Presence and Your Unconditional Love in all that was, is and yet to be.

And so it is…

Dr Ing

Song: The Lord’s Prayer (it’s yours) by Matt Maher

Resurrecting our Warrior Spirit

November 6, 2022

Warrior

a person who shows or has shown great vigour, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics.

Spirit

the principle of conscious life; the vital principle in humans, animating the body or mediating between body and soul.

Zen priest and activist angel Kyodo williams writes about living with a nonviolent “warrior-spirit” inspired by the Buddha:
The man who became the Buddha was known as Gautama, and he was born into a warrior clan known as the Shakyas. . . .
But even before Gautama was born as a Shakya warrior, he had been a warrior of another kind. In previous lives, Gautama had been a bodhisattva. Bodhisattva means “awakening being” and refers to a person of any culture that is brave and willing to walk on the path of wakefulness. . . . They are awakening warriors that give up floating through life aimlessly and being concerned only with themselves. Awakening warriors live in a way that is of benefit to all, and their work is done here in this world. They see that we must all take responsibility for ending suffering, not just for our own individual freedom, but for that of others as well. What these awakening warriors realize is that in order to live harmoniously and with joy, they must take their natural place in the world.
Does this mean that in order to live with more joy and grace and less fear and anger we need to run out and take up arms or develop aggressiveness and a warlike stance? Not at all. What we want to do is We can bring warrior-spirit to the cause of peace and harmonious connection because it is about life and living, not power and aggression. . . . Warrior-spirit is a frame of mind that lets us make a habit of cultivating the qualities and skills that are already available to all of us. [1]

“It’s not about what I SEE for our future, or humanity; It’s about what I DO for our future and humanity”

— Steve Maraboli

“For many people, life seems to be a kind of brief candle hardly worth living. But for those who are bold, who are venturesome, who have the humility to deal with what is possible rather than what is predictable, life is an exciting and challenging adventure. Life is no brief candle to me. In a world that can work for everyone, especially in which I can make a difference—that is a life worth living! That is living! That is being alive!”
Werner Erhard

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do
Edward Everett Hale

If you cannot feed a hundred people, feed one
Mother Teresa

Everyone can do simple things to make a difference, and every little bit really does count- Stella McCartney

I think one of the best words in the English language is ‘compassion.’ I think it holds everything. It holds love, it holds care… and if everybody just did something, We would all make a difference
Michael Crawford

We rise by lifting others
Robert Ingersoll

Story

Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee founded a women’s nonviolent peace movement that helped stop the second Liberian civil war in 2003. One night she heard a clear spiritual call:
I had a dream.
I didn’t know where I was. Everything was dark. I couldn’t see a face, but I heard a voice, and it was talking to me—commanding me: “Gather the women to pray for peace!”. . .
In some ways, that dream [and] that moment, were the start of everything. We knelt down on the worn brown carpet and closed our eyes. “Dear God, thank you for sending us this vision,” said Sister Esther. “Give us your blessing, Lord, and offer us Your protection and guidance in helping us to understand what it means.”
My dream became the Christian Women’s Peace Initiative. In April 2002, about twenty Lutheran women from local churches gathered to follow the message I’d been sent, praying each Tuesday at noon in the small upstairs chapel of the St. Peter’s compound. Sometimes we fasted. Soon, other church women heard what we were doing and began to join us. “Jesus, help us. You are the true Prince of Peace, the only one who can grant us peace.” . . .
We lived in a closed, guarded box, and the most ordinary acts could bring down terrible punishment. . . . Nobody seemed willing to do anything. . . . Now, finally, we women were going to take action.
Gbowee describes the tireless efforts of organizing for peace in a country that had undergone immense suffering, violence, and corruption:
Three days a week for six months, the women of WIPNET [Women in Peacebuilding Network] went out to meet with the women of Monrovia; we went to the mosques on Friday at noon after prayers, to the markets on Saturday morning, to two churches every Sunday. . . . We gave all our sisters the same message: Liberian women, awake for peace! . . .
It wasn’t always easy. Women who have suffered for nearly as long as they can remember come to a point where they look down, not ahead. But as we kept working, women began to look up and listen. No one had spoken to them this way before.
We handed out flyers: WE ARE TIRED! WE ARE TIRED OF OUR CHILDREN BEING KILLED! WE ARE TIRED OF BEING RAPED! WOMEN, WAKE UP—YOU HAVE A VOICE IN THE PEACE PROCESS! . . .
As the women of WIPNET gathered together, my fear, depression and loneliness were finally, totally, wiped away. Others who felt the way I did stood beside me; I wasn’t alone anymore. And I knew in my heart that everything I had been through, every pain, had led me to this point: leading women to fight for peace was what I was meant to do with my life.

Sacred Text

James 2:14-17
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

If you do not take care of one another, who else will do so? Those who would care of me should care for those who are sick. Buudha

Poem

In a beautifully emotive poem called Bani Adam (human kind), drafted in the 13th century, the Persian-Muslim polymath Sa’adi used what can be employed as an analogy to our current challenge in order to visualise this common constitution of humanity. These verses from Sa’adi’s Bani Adam decorate the walls of the United Nations building in New York and the poem was quoted by US president Barack Obama in his videotaped New Year (Nowrouz) message to Iran in March 2009 to open up a new chapter in Iranian relations with the US. More recently, the British band Coldplay used the poem as the title of a song in their album Everyday Life.

Bani Adam (human kind) by Sa’adi

Rhyming translations by M. Aryanpoor:

Human beings are members of a whole,

In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain,

Other members uneasy will remain.

If you've no sympathy for human pain,

The name of human you cannot retain!

Translation by H. Vahid Dastjerdi:

Adam's sons are body limbs, to say;

For they're created of the same clay.

Should one organ be troubled by pain,

Others would suffer severe strain.

Thou, careless of people's suffering,

Deserve not the name, "human being".

Translation by Dr. Iraj Bashiri:

Of One Essence is the Human Race,

Thusly has Creation put the Base.

One Limb impacted is sufficient,

For all Others to feel the Mace.

The Unconcern'd with Others' Plight,

Are but Brutes with Human Face.

Rumination

Where the lips are silent the heart has a thousand tongues.
Rumi

For Keith

Love Lives On - Unknown

Those we love remain with us
for love itself lives on,
and cherished memories never fade
because a loved one’s gone.
Those we love can never be
more than a thought apart,
for as long as there is memory,
they’ll live on in the heart.

Benediction

May God’s extravagant love consume you, to do whatever is put on your heart to do.
May Christ’s life and passion inspire you to share whatever is yours to share
And the Spirit compel you to do ordinary things with extraordinary love and compassion.

Song: Do Something by Mathew West

What masterpiece are you creating for your life

October 30, 2022

“Your soul is your paintbrush, your world is your canvass, your life is your masterpiece”

— Matshona Dhliwayo

Used paint brushes stained with green, blue and red paintcolour

Whether it means producing a piece of art, writing a short story, or simply bringing beauty into our home or into the lives of others, consider for a moment that we each have the capacity to be creative. The masterpiece, then, is not something we create to hang on our wall but something in ourselves as we fulfill our God-given potential, utilizing the talents He gave us.
Mary Potter Kenyon

It should be the ambition of every true artist to transform wounds and traumas into masterpieces.
Wayne Gerard Trotman

If you have never seen a masterpiece, look in the mirror.
Matshona Dhliwayo

"Make your life a masterpiece; imagine no limitations on what you can be, have or do" Brian Tracy

Life is a masterpiece that you create.” “Your soul is your paintbrush, your world is your canvass, your life is your masterpiece.” “Some of the greatest masterpieces of art are created against the odds of reality. “Write the masterpiece that has not been written.

SACRED TEXT

Life is an art. The whole life of man Is Self Expression. The Individual is an expression of God. We suffer if we do not express ourselves.
Perfect Liberty Kyodam Precepts 1 - 4

Perfect Liberty (PL) Kyodan (“Kyodan” means “Religion” or “Church”) is one of the world’s newest religions, established in Japan in 1924. Though sharing some similarities with the native ancient Japan religion of Shinto, PL is unique in its own right, and characterized by underlying core teaching that “Life is art.”

PL is based on the teaching that life is art and self-expression. Each individual is a unique personality, and the artist continuously shaping his existence. When we express our true unique selves in everything we do, and are able to express perfectly what we basically and uniquely are, our full and uniquely own human potential is realized, and we attain a state of Perfect Liberty—an artistic life of complete, sincere, continuous, conscious self-expression, and the highest, most satisfying, and most meaningful human existence. And when all people live this way, there will be true world peace.

Poem by Matshona Dhliwayo

You are the greatest poem ever written.
You are the greatest song ever sung.
You are the greatest portrait ever painted.
You are the greatest symphony ever composed.
You are the greatest act ever performed.
You are the greatest masterpiece ever created.

Story

Toshiko Akiyoshi changed the face of jazz music over her sixty-year career. As one of few women and Asian musicians in the jazz world, Akiyoshi infused Japanese culture, sounds, and instruments into her music. As a pianist, bandleader, and composer-arranger, Akiyoshi cemented her place as one of the most important jazz musicians of the twentieth century.
Toshiko Akiyoshi was born on December 12, 1929, in Darien, Manchuria. Historically an area of China, many world powers fought to control Manchuria during the twentieth century. From 1932-1945, the Japanese held Manchuria under colonial control. At the end of World War II, the Japanese in Manchuria—including Akiyoshi’s family—were forced out.

The family moved back to occupied Japan, where they experienced the hardships of postwar life. In an interview, Akiyoshi noted that when the family came back, her “parents lost everything.” While Akiyoshi had been able to play piano in Manchuria, her parents were now unable to provide her with an instrument. Since Japan was still under occupation, there were many clubs that catered to both soldiers and the local community. The clubs needed musicians to entertain not only the foreign troops but the Japanese who wanted to dance and listen to music. To keep playing piano, the teenaged Akiyoshi got her first job playing in the clubs and in small combos. By 1951, she was playing piano professionally and leading her own jazz group.

In 1952, pianist Oscar Peterson discovered Akiyoshi while he was on a Jazz at the Philharmonic tour of Japan. After hearing her play in a Tokyo nightclub, Peterson persuaded producer Norman Granz to record her on his Verve label. This recording became Akiyoshi’s big break. After this opportunity, Akiyoshi came to the United States in 1956 to begin studying at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. With her enrollment, she became the first Japanese musician at the school.
In 1959, she moved to New York City and established a reputation as a fine “bebop” (a style of jazz popularized in the 1940s in the U.S.) player.
She played in clubs such as Birdland, Village Gate, Five Spot, and Half Note. She remembered facing discrimination in the jazz world because she was a woman and Asian. In an interview, Akiyoshi recalled hearing people ask “’Japanese play jazz, really?’” and, when it came to her being female, she described it as a “‘Really, really?’ kind of thing.’” In 1959, she also married her first husband, saxophonist Charlie Mariano; the two formed a quartet. In the 1960s, Akiyoshi continued making her mark on the jazz world. She began showing her talent as a composer-arranger for big bands and worked with Charles Mingus in 1962.

By 1973, Akiyoshi had moved to Los Angelas with her second husband, saxophonist, and flutist Lew Tabackin. That same year, Akiyoshi formed her first jazz orchestra—the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra which went on to have great success. The band debuted at Carnegie Hall as part of the 1983 Kool Jazz Festival and went on to record 22 albums and receive 14 Grammy nominations. Akiyoshi became the first woman to place first in the Best Arranger and Composer category in the DownBeat Readers’ Poll plus numerous other awards

In 2003, Akiyoshi disbanded her orchestra to focus on piano. She said in an interview, “it has been 60 years since I discovered jazz and made it my lifetime work. I am so gratified to be recognized for my endeavors especially my infusing of Japanese culture into the jazz world, making it ever more universal.”

Rumination

You are a mirror of the beauty of God that created the universe.
Rumi

Black History

Una Marson’s life contained a series of spectacular firsts. She was the first Black producer and broadcaster at the BBC. She was the first Black writer to stage a play in the West End. In her time, Una Marson was famous, and she was at the centre of everything. There she is not just in a photograph with her BBC colleagues George Orwell and TS Eliot, but right at the centre of it, commanding the room.
She set up magazines, wrote poetry, was published. In 1932, 16 years before the Windrush generation began arriving, she set sail for the UK
Marson wrote about the racism and hostility she experienced in London, turning it into powerful poetry.
She joined the nascent League of Coloured Peoples, eventually becoming its magazine’s editor. To the surprise of some of the “old codgers” in the movement, she proved that a woman could hold her own in matters of Marxism and colonialism. She met foreign dignitaries including Halle Selassie and gave speeches on equality that made the news.
It is unsurprising to learn that, as a Black woman from the Caribbean, Marson faced hostility from some colleagues. Complaints about her alleged “rudeness” come with a side order of unconcealed racism.
She was conflicted about whether or not to marry, knowing that, owing to the era, it would mean giving up her career.
Eventually, this appears to have led to what we might refer to now as burnout. Her mental health suffered and she ended up being hospitalised in a psychiatric institution in Jamaica. Upon her recovery, she returned to charitable work and political campaigning, setting up a publishing company that made the work of Jamaican authors accessible to as many people as possible. When she spoke about her work on Woman’s Hour, many years later, she noted that it marked her return to the BBC.

Benediction

John O’Donoghue P136 Benedictus

Song: Masterpiece by Danny Gokey

Drivers wanted - Are you a driver or a passenger in your life - Stop being a passenger and sit in the driver seat

October 23, 2022

Right side rear view mirror showing traffic and cars with head lights on

“Life is a journey. Don't be a passenger - get in the driver's seat and keep your eyes straight ahead.”
Abdul Basit

“There’s more to life than just being a passenger.”
Amelia Earhart

It takes being an active participant in your life. But you are in the driver's seat, and you can determine the direction you want tomorrow to go in.
Douglas Pagels

“On the road of life there are passengers and there are drivers. Drivers wanted.”

— Unknown

You're meant to be in the driver's seat of your life, not running alongside the car, trying to catch up!
Mandy Hale

We are all traveling somewhere in life, but the question is: Are you in the driver’s seat or just a passenger?

Drivers will take their life in their own hands by choosing to pursue their dreams and goals, whereas the passenger sees obstacles as a dead end or roadblock to their dream.

“People who choose to be passengers have to go where the driver is going. And they have little or no control over how fast they move ahead, and no say about whether rules are observed.”

Too many people just want to go along for the ride. They expect to climb on board, settle comfortably into the passenger seat, stare out the window and not worry about a thing until they get to their destination. They don’t think about all of the work that goes into getting them there.
But the driver is in command. He’s the one who navigates the freeways and the mountain passes. He knows when to step on the gas and when to decelerate. He switches lanes when necessary. He fills up the tank. And he’s always aware of the traffic around him.

In life there are passengers and drivers. The passenger is someone who goes along for the ride, often leaving decisions and responsibility for someone else. The drivers in life are the people who take responsibility for their actions and direct their own destiny.
If you want to lead a successful and fulfilling life and you need to stop being a passenger and be the driver. If you need to know how to recognise passenger and driver tendencies then you’ve come to the right place.

Sitting in the “passenger seat” of your own life for too long is a very dangerous game. Letting someone have control over every little aspect of your life gives the person in control too much power, creating strains on the foundations of your relationship with them. If you let someone have power over you for too long, you begin to lose the most important thing in your life: your self-identity. So in order to get out of the “passenger seat” and back into the “driver’s seat” of your life, you need to recognise that you are no longer in control and make time for things that make you happy.

As a passenger:

I can relax
I am not responsible
I am not deciding which way to take
I do not need to know how to drive
I follow
I can be lazy
I am depending on someone else, or I am dependent
I am accepting what others do
I can blame the others
I trust the driver, maybe not always
I put myself in the hands of the driver
I am a passive participant of the drive
I can support the driver

As a driver:

I decide what to do
I take responsibility for my decision
I believe in myself
I decide on where I go and which way I take
I learned how to drive, even if I was not perfect at the beginning
I am responsible for the passengers
I have to consider the conditions I’m driving in (traffic, weather, etc)
I need to understand the rules (e.g. if I drive in another country, the driving behaviors, etc)
I need to be present
I am accountable
I am independent

As a driver you get to decide the route to your destination, the speed with which you travel at, the Highway Code to pay attention to when to rest and when to refuel, allow enough time for the journey and not be afraid of unknown detours and flat tyres along the way.

Sacred Text

“For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
Romans 14:10, 12

Story: Don’t be a Passenger in Your Own Life - Stacey Herrera

We spend a big part of our lives waiting. Waiting in line at the grocery store or waiting for a phone call or waiting for our “big break.”
There are somethings that we must wait for, but there are a lot of things that we don’t. Instead of waiting for life to happen to you, take charge and create the life that you want.
All too often we allow other things and other people dictate what happens. Then we are disappointed when things don’t work out the way that we would have liked. If you take charge of your life; there will be no disappointments. Even if things don’t go a certain way, it can be chalked up as an experienced detour. Rather than a disappointment or a failure.
With each day comes a new opportunity to create the path that you wish your life to take. Each day you have the opportunity to get in the driver seat.
Don’t be a passenger in your own life, allowing fate to steer the way. Get behind the wheel, fasten your seat belt, and take control of your destiny. Only you know where you want to go…who cares if you take the scenic route. When you are behind the wheel, the navigation is up to you.

Poem 1: Passenger BY Dredd

i am tired of being the passenger in my life
watching it happen while not being present.

i want to steer my own destiny towards a happier and blissful place.

taking action instead of waiting for nothing to happen
waiting and waiting
then complaining
why nothing is right.

you do not wait.
you should not wait.
you should take action.

Poem 2: Passenger by Alison M

Life is so precious, so short;
You never know what is around the next bend;
Heartache and sadness,
Or love and joy;
Going along with the flow,
Accepting your fate;
You are but a passenger,
With no control over your destination;
Take the wheel;
Make your life yours again

Rumination

What is planted in each persons soul will sprout.
Rumi

Black History

DAME LINDA DOBBS
"The Honourable Mrs Justice Dobbs is the first black person in the senior judiciary of England and Wales, being appointed a high court judge in 2004. Dame Linda Penelope Dobbs was born in 1951. Dame Linda came to Britain from Sierra Leone when she was seven years old. Her mother was from Sierra Leone and her father was an English lawyer who went on to serve as a High Court judge in Sierra Leone. Her father had been a High Court judge there. After studying for a BSc from the University of Surrey, she came to LSE to study for an LLM and then went on to write a PhD thesis on “Juvenile justice in the Soviet Union”, under the supervision of Professors Hall Williams and Ivo Lapenna. Dame Linda was called to the Bar in 1981. Her practice at 18 Red Lion Court was predominantly criminal, specialising mainly on serious fraud, customs and excise cases and serious sexual offences. She took silk in 1998. Amongst other appointments was chair of the Professional Standards Committee and the Criminal Bar Association."

Benedicton

Divine Mother Father God
May we know that even as we sit in the driver seat of our life that You are steering the course for the direction you will have us go in.
May we not allow ourselves to be a spectator, bystander or passenger for our life allowing others to drive, instruct and direct us.
May we have the courage to trust the detours our journey may take, knowing that you are our sacred spiritual GPS now and always.

Song: You are the Universe - Brand New Heavies

Inclusion and Belonging will only happen as we examine our unconscious biases

October 16, 2022

lots of hands holding on to a tree trunk viewed from below with out of focus green leaves

Bias is a prejudice in favour of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another usually in a way that's considered to be unfair. Biases may be held by an individual, group, or institution and can have negative or positive consequences. There are types of biases 1. Conscious bias (also known as explicit bias) and 2. Unconscious bias (also known as implicit bias).
It is important to note that biases, conscious or unconscious, are not limited to ethnicity and race. Though racial bias and discrimination are well documented, biases may exist toward any social group. One's age, gender, gender identity physical abilities, religion, sexual orientation, weight, and many other characteristics are subject to bias.

Unconscious biases, or implicit biases, are attitudes that are held subconsciously and affect the way individuals feel and think about others around them.

It is a term that describes the associations we hold, outside our conscious awareness and control. Unconscious bias affects everyone. can have a significant influence on our attitudes and behaviours, especially towards other people.

Unconscious bias is triggered by our brain automatically making quick judgments and assessments. They are influenced by our background, personal experiences, societal stereotypes and cultural context. It is not just about gender, ethnicity or other visible diversity characteristics - height, body weight, names, one’s age, gender identity, visible or invisible physical abilities I and many other things can also trigger unconscious bias.

Subconscious attitudes aren’t necessarily as well-formed as coherent thoughts, but they can be very ingrained. Many people have unconscious biases that have been with them since childhood, which they absorb by observing their social, familial and institutional environments. Unconscious biases can colour the emotional and rational responses of individuals in everyday situations and affect their behaviour.

Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one's tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing. training addresses how our minds have been conditioned to act when we counter people who we perceive as different from us.

Our brains have learned to be afraid, suspicious and judgmental of differences because of our personal experiences and messages, both explicit and subliminal, from our parents, media and society. This conditioning may lead us to reject or misinterpret how others speak or act.

Diversity: This is when people from all different backgrounds come together. It includes people of different races, genders, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, visible and invisible disabilities, class, or status.

Equity: The understanding that providing equal treatment or resources doesn’t necessarily deliver equally matching results is the foundation of equity. While many people share the same goals and dreams, the path isn’t always the same, and one might experience more hardship and obstacles than another.
Inclusion: Celebrating diversity requires thoughtful inclusion. Everyone must be recognized and appreciated for their talents, be provided with opportunities to get involved, and have their perspectives valued and heard.
Belonging: A sense of belonging ties diversity, equity, and inclusion together. Each group member is respected, valued, and cherished while being their authentic selves. Belonging is a feeling of a shared community.

9 Types of Unconscious Bias

Unconscious bias comes in many different forms. Here are nine types to be aware of.

1. Affinity bias

We often gravitate towards people who are like us, whether it be based on appearance, background, or beliefs. This is known as affinity bias. While it’s rooted in finding belonging and seeking comfort, when we have an affinity for those who are like us, we unintentionally shut out those who are different.

2. Appearance bias

It can be easy to make snap judgments based upon the appearance of an individual. Some examples of appearance-based biases include:

Beauty bias: People perceived as attractive or beautiful are more likely to be treated positively.
Weight bias: Weight bias occurs when a negative judgment is influenced by a person’s weight.
Height bias: Taller people are more likely to be perceived as authoritative and leader-like, whereas shorter individuals— particularly men— are more likely to encounter negative height bias,

3. Confirmation bias

We all have existing beliefs and values. Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and interpret new information in a way that confirms what you already believe. Not only can confirmation bias be harmful to others,

4. Attribution bias

Attribution bias correlates people’s actions to unrelated (or even untrue) characteristics. This bias causes us to make inferences about the causes of events or behaviours without necessarily considering all of the facts

5. Gender bias

Unconscious gender bias is unintentional associations based on a person’s gender, often stemming from traditions, values, social norms, or culture.

6. Age bias

Age bias occurs when we make judgments about individuals solely based on their age. For instance, being young is often associated with lacking experience or judgment. On the other hand, being older is equated with being outdated or behind-the-times.

7. Authority bias

Authority bias is the tendency to place more weight on the opinion or idea of an authority figure. Similarly, authority bias can lead people to treat people in positions of authority or power more favourably than those who don’t hold high-level positions.

8. The halo effect

The halo effect is the tendency to use an overall positive impression of a person to influence other judgments of their character. Oftentimes, the halo effect begins as a first impression or when we learn a tidbit of information about a person. For example, if we perceive someone as being nice when we meet them, we may also think of them as intelligent, social, and generous— even if we have no information to base those judgments on.

9. The horn effect

The horn effect is closely related to the halo effect. But instead of making a positive initial judgment, the horn effect starts with a negative judgement. This, in turn, causes us to assess other traits of the person negatively

James Baldwin described us well: 'Each of us, helplessly and forever, contains the other -- male in female, female in male, white in black and black in white. We are part of each other.' "

“We long to belong, and belonging and caring anchors our sense of place in the universe.”
Patricia Churchland (Philosopher)

“Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.”
Verna Myers (Vice President of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix)

“You have a responsibility to make inclusion a daily thought, so we can get rid of the word ‘inclusion.’ Theodore Melfi (American Producer)

“To me, beauty is inclusion– every size, every color– that’s the world I live in.”
Prabal Gurung (Fashion Designer)

“Inclusion is not a matter of political correctness. It is the key to growth.”
Jesse Jackson (Activist)

Sacred Text

Consider the family of humankind one.
Jainism Jinasena, Dipurana

All ye under heaven! Regard heaven as your father, earth as your mother and all things as your brothers and sisters,
Shinto Oracle of Atsua

O mankind, we created you from a single pair of male and female and made you into nations and tribes, that you might know each other. (Not that you might despise each other)Verily the most honoured among you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous.
Quaran 49:13

If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Romans 12:1

Story

Theresia Degener was born into this world without arms, she has learned to do everything with her feet. Needless to say, in carrying out her daily routine, she sometimes draws people’s attention.

“I have a visible and exotic disability. It makes me look different and that’s a plus,” she says, revealing her sense of humour.
Degener is an energetic person whose condition led her to become an advocate for the rights of the disabled.
A Professor of Law and Disability Studies in Germany, she is also a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Committee monitors the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into force in 2008 and commits States to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.
Degener contributed to the preparation of the background material used in the drafting of the Convention and was part of the negotiation process leading to its adoption.
She recounts her experience growing up, the youngest of six children, in a small village in Germany.
“My father was the doctor of the village,” she says. “When it was time for me to go to school, the authorities informed him that, according to the laws, I had to go to a special school.”
'Take me to prison,' her father told the authorities, 'but my daughter will go to regular school.' “He even threatened not to treat the Mayor’s children when they got sick if the authorities did not reconsider!” Degener said, smiling.
Degener was admitted to regular school. “I have always attended regular schools,” she says. “If it were not for my parents and the opportunity I had to go to a regular school, I would not have become a lawyer.”
Inspired by her personal experience, she focuses today on the rights of disabled children to obtain a proper and inclusive education.
Inclusive education is based on the principle that all children learn together, wherever possible, regardless of difference, states a UN report on the right to education of persons with disabilities.
By taking into account the diversity among learners, inclusive education seeks to combat discriminatory attitude and create welcoming communities. In this way, says the report, educational systems should no longer view persons with disabilities as problems to be fixed; instead, they should respond positively to pupil diversity and approach individual differences as opportunities to enrich learning for all.
Special schools are often based on the belief that persons with disabilities are uneducable or are a burden on the mainstream educational system. The practice of separating students with disabilities can lead to greater marginalization from society, a situation that persons with disability face generally, thus entrenching discrimination.
“Special education is less qualified than mainstream education,” says Degener. “Exclusion from the education system is a serious violation of human rights.”
Ultimately, inclusive education can lead to better learning outcomes for all children, not just children with disabilities, according to UNICEF. It promotes tolerance and enables social cohesion as it fosters inclusive social culture and promotes equal participation in society.

The Little Mermaid will star black actor and singer Halle Bailey as Ariel. And, with an inevitability that could crush your bones to dust, a segment of the internet has reacted poorly to this.
This week it emerged that the film’s trailer had received a million and a half dislikes from outraged film fans spluttering with rage that the character is no longer a sexy aquatic caucasian redhead.

Poem: Wish for Acceptance by Carolyn Devonshire

My greatest wish is for humanity
Treating each other with civility
Regardless of each one’s ethnicity
All men should be treated with dignity

For when I hear of discrimination
It generates the greatest repulsion
And so as not to create confusion
Every religion deserves inclusion

Judging books by their covers can only bring
More hate, intolerance as hope takes wing
If we could learn to be more accepting
Bells of world peace would surely be chiming

So join me now in prayer for acceptance
And an end to widespread intolerance
Beyond war there will be a transcendence
Through God’s plan we’ll live in benevolence

Rumination

“I belong to no religion. My religion is love. Every heart is my temple.”

Black History Month

FEDERICK JONES

"Frederick McKinley Jones was the inventor of a practical refrigeration system for trucks and railroad cars. Frederick Jones patented more than sixty inventions in all, but it is his invention of the automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks in 1935 that he is most famous for. A naturally gifted mechanic, ones was self-taught, which helped him to invent a portable air-conditioning unit for trucks in 1938. This unit could be used to preserve perishable foods during transport, and the patents Jones were awarded for the product led to the formation of the Thermo King Corporation. His inventions were increasingly vital during WWII, when they were used to transport blood and medicine to battlefields and hospitals.

Benediction

Mother Father God
May we be open and aware to bless the world’s people with welcoming and wholehearted acceptance.
May we honour and recognise their uniqueness and behold your sacred worth expressing in and through them as children of God.
May we want for them what we want for ourselves, a world of safety, freedom and respect.
May we always believe and trust that we are one with each other as we are all one with you in Spirit.

Song: For King and Country, Relate

Catch it, Check It, Change it: Trust is the anecdote for anxiety

October 10, 2022

Anxiety could be described as a deep and sometimes distressing concern for something or someone, to the point of irregular physical, mental, and/or emotional health. We can all experience feelings of worry or tension in life, but when they become debilitating, it can be very difficult.

According to epidemiological surveys, one third of the population is affected by anxiety during their lifetime

If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath. — Amit Ray

“No amount of anxiety can change the future. No amount of regret can change the past”

— Karen Salmansohne

Entangled in the trance of unworthiness, we grow accustomed to caging ourselves in with self-judgment and anxiety, with restlessness and dissatisfaction.
Tara Brach

Who’s not sat tense before his own heart’s curtain.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Don’t let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of its worries.
Astrid Alauda

Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.
Arthur Somers Roche

I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.
Steve Maraboli

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world — not even our troubles.
Charlie Chaplin

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
William James

Sacred Text

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.
Psalm 94:19 (NIV)

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
Mathew 6:27

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
Luke: 12: 25 -26

Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.
Proverbs 12:25

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17: 17- 8

Poem

This poem is about my experience with anxiety and how I am still trying to breathe and work through the hard times. I know there are people out there with experiences like mine, and I hope this poem will help people know they are not alone. By Tiffaney L. Ganci entitled Breathe

Panic, worry, darkness closing in around me.
These are some of the words I could use to describe my anxiety,
but nothing I can say could speak of its entirety,
as I cry internally thinking I've lost my sanity.

Doctors, counselors, saying there's something wrong with me.
My parents telling me to calm down and stop being so crazy.
But how can I calm down when the world around me
is spinning out of control and I can barely see?

Breathe. You will get through this.

You will get through the sleepless nights,
all the internal fights,
and the days that seem right
when the world hits you with all its might.

Breathe. You will get through this.

I know you think I'm overreacting about the silliest little things,
but to me those silly little things seem like the doom the world could bring.
Can't you see, a spilled glass of milk to you can seems like an earthquake to me.

I know it might be hard to understand my anxiety,
but I hope today I have given you some clarity.

So the next time someone is scared and feels like they can't breathe,
shaking and crying, unable to see,
don't tell them they're overreacting; don't call them crazy.
Help them realize there is more to life than this misery,
and no matter the doubt inside, they will be who they are meant to be.

Breathe. I will get through this.

Because I know I am more than just my anxiety,
and one day I hope to be free of it entirely.
But until then, I will keep telling myself, quietly,
I am stronger than this. I am stronger than my anxiety.

Story

When U.S. Marine Corp Officer Jake D.’s vehicle drove over an explosive device in Afghanistan, he looked down to see his legs almost completely severed below the knee. At that moment, he remembered a breathing exercise he had learned in a book for young officers. Thanks to that exercise, he was able to stay calm enough to check on his men, give orders to call for help, tourniquet his own legs, and remember to prop them up before falling unconscious. Later, he was told that had he not done so, he would have bled to death.
If a simple breathing exercise could help Jake under such extreme duress, similar techniques can certainly help the rest of us with our more common workplace stresses. The combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and battles for social justice have only exacerbated the anxiety that many of us feel every day, and studies show that this stress is interfering with our ability to do our best work. But with the right breathing exercises, you can learn to handle your stress and manage negative emotions.
In two recently published studies, we explored several different techniques and found that a breathing exercise was most effective for both immediate and long-term stress reduction.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6–7 (NIV)
Recently I received an e-mail with a radiology report of an X-ray, and there was an unexpected finding with scary-sounding medical jargon. I told myself that if it was anything serious my doctor would call...but I kept wondering about the abnormality and what it meant.

Since it was the weekend, I couldn’t make a quick call to the clinic to ask my doctor about the results. My husband suggested I ask his brother, a doctor, about it, but I didn’t want to pester him and was also afraid of sounding silly. Instead I searched for information online, which only ratcheted up my anxiety. Finally, I called my brother-in-law.
He quickly reassured me that it was a harmless quirk and a common finding. Relief flooded me. A hundred terrible outcomes—invented by my wild imagination—all dissolved. The experience made me realize how many times anxiety coils around me, subtly squeezing tighter and tighter. What if readers don’t like my next book? What if a friend finds me annoying?
What if my children wander from faith? What if my husband is in a car accident? What if society crumbles? Like subtle signs on an X-ray, I can see there are problems, but I don’t fully know what they mean. In my ignorance I imagine the worst. Until I remember there is someone I can call on. Jesus understands the truth and reassures me all will be well. Even better, He has the power to bring change to the situation, or change to my heart so I can bear it with more grace until His answer unfolds.

Rumination

You sit here for days saying, this is a strange business. You're the strange business. You have the energy of the sun in you, but you keep knotting it up at the base of your spine.
Rumi

Black History Month

ARTHUR WHARTON
"Arthur Wharton is widely considered to be the first black professional footballer in the world. Wharton was born in Jamestown, Gold Coast (now Accra, Ghana). His father Henry Wharton was Grenadian, while his mother, Annie Florence Egyriba was a member of the Fante Ghanaian royalty. Wharton moved to England in 1882 at age 19, to train as a Methodist missionary, but soon abandoned this in favour of becoming a full-time athlete. He was an all-round sportsman – in 1886, he equalled the amateur world record of 10 seconds for the 100-yard sprint in the AAA championship. He was also a keen cyclist and cricketer, playing for local teams in Yorkshire and Lancashire. However, Wharton is best remembered for his exploits as a footballer; while he was not the first mixed-heritage footballer in the United Kingdom — leading amateurs Robert Walker and Scotland international Andrew Watson predate him, however Wharton was the first mixed-heritage footballer to turn professional. "

Benediction

May The Mind of God always guide us.
May we always remember The Life of God that flows through us.
May we always align with The Power of God that abides in us.
May The Joy of God always ever uplift us.
May we always allow The Strength of God to renew us.
May The Beauty of God always inspire us.
May we deepen into the deeper things of God.
And May we always know Wherever we are, God is & that all is well!

Song: Trust in You by Antoine Bradford

Self Acceptance vs Self Esteem

October 3, 2022

Your self-esteem is mostly determined by what you think others think about you. it is the lens through which we interpret our external world.
It also dictates the way we speak to ourselves. In turn, this determines the life-choices we make and the risks we decide to take.
Self-esteem comes from evaluating our strengths in comparison to others in different aspects of our lives : money, beauty, Success, Skills and abilities etc
Whilst a healthy amount of self-esteem can help you to succeed in this world, self-acceptance is the only thing that can bring you pure joy and contentment.

“Self-esteem is the quality of fuel you use, and self-acceptance is how you drive on that tank of fuel”

— Unknown

Self-acceptance is constant and timeless; unlike self-esteem, it doesn’t shift depending on what’s happening in your life. Truly accepting yourself means that, even if you lose your job, your spouse or your home – you’ll show yourself compassion. You won’t beat yourself up for being less employable, less lovable, or less wealthy than those around you.

Self-acceptance helps you control your emotions

A lack of self-acceptance can affect the part of your brain responsible for controlling your emotions. This can lead to mental imbalance and emotional outbursts as a result of elevated anxiety, stress, or anger.

Self-acceptance helps you forgive yourself

Learning to accept yourself helps you be less self-critical. It helps you create a more positive, compassionate, and balanced view of yourself.

Self-acceptance leads to self-compassion

According to self-compassion researcher Kristin Neff, self-compassion is more important for our mental and emotional well-being than self-esteem.

Self-acceptance helps you be yourself

When you lack self-acceptance, you’re constantly trying to hide, censor, or repress your true self. This can leave you feeling drained.

[With unconditional self-acceptance]… you always – yes, always – accept and respect yourself, your personhood, your being, whether or not you perform well and whether or not other people approve of you and your behaviours.
Albert Ellis

“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”
Carl Jung

“Entangled in the trance of unworthiness, we grow accustomed to caging ourselves in with self-judgment and anxiety, with restlessness and dissatisfaction.
We don’t have to wait until we are on our deathbed to realize what a waste of our precious lives it is to carry the belief that something is wrong with us.
Radical Acceptance is the willingness to experience ourselves and our life as it is. A moment of Radical Acceptance is a moment of genuine freedom.”
Tara Brach

“Radical self-acceptance is the truest form of self-love because it is not contingent upon our behaviours or feelings at a given time. It is always present, regardless of the various stressors life throws our way. It enables us to take important risks because we know our self-love will still be there if we fail.”
Heather S. Lonczak

How to accept yourself

Forgive yourself
Practice self-compassion
Use present moment awareness and mindfulness
Acknowledge and love your abilities
Ignore your inner critic
Connect with loved ones who appreciate you
Move on from disappointments
Gain perspective on your limitations

Sacred Text

You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.
Song of Solomon 1:15

Those who are kind benefit themselves, but the cruel bring ruin on themselves.
2 Timothy 3:1-3

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13–14

“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn't try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn't need others' approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.”
Lao Tzu, philosopher

Story: A Man Named Bad [Self Acceptance]

Once upon a time there was a world famous teacher in Takkasila, in north-western India. He had 500 high class students who learned sacred teachings from him.
It just so happened that one of these high class students had been named 'Bad' by his parents. One day he thought, "When I am told, 'Come Bad', 'Go Bad', 'Do this Bad', it is not nice for me or others. It even sounds disgraceful and unlucky."
So he went to the teacher and asked him to give him a more pleasant name, one that would bring good fortune rather than bad. The teacher said, "Go my son, go wherever you like and find a more fortunate name. When you return, I will officially give you your new name."
The young man named Bad left the city, and traveled from village to village until he came to a big city. A man had just died and Bad asked what his name was. People said. "His name was Alive." "Alive also died?" asked Bad. The people answered, "Whether his name be Alive or whether it be Dead, in either case he must die. A name is merely a word used to recognize a person. Only a fool would not know this!" After hearing this, Bad no longer felt badly about his own name — but he didn't feel good about it either.
As he continued on his way into the city, a debt-slave girl was being beaten by her masters in the street. He asked, "Why is she being beaten?" He was told, "Because she is a slave until she pays a loan debt to her masters. She has come home from working, with no wages to pay as interest on her debt." "And what is her name?" he asked. "Her name is Rich." they said. "By her name she is Rich but she has no money even to pay interest?" asked Bad. They said, 'Whether her name be Rich or whether it be Poor, in either case she has no money. A name is merely a word used to recognize a person. Only a fool would not know this!" After hearing this, Bad became even less interested in changing his name.
After leaving the city, along the roadside he met a man who had lost his way. He asked him, "What is your name? " He replied, 'My name is Tourguide." "You mean to say that even a Tourguide has gotten lost?" asked Bad. Then the man said, "Whether my name be Tourguide or whether it be Tourist, in either case I have lost my way. A name is merely a word used to recognize a person. Only a fool would not know this!"
Now completely satisfied with his own name, Bad returned to his teacher.
The world famous teacher of Takkasila asked him, "How are you, my son? Have you found a good name?" He answered, "Sir, those named Alive and Dead both die, Rich and Poor may be penniless, Tourguide and Tourist can get lost. Now I know that a name is merely a word used to recognize a person. The name does not make things happen, only deeds do. So I'm satisfied with my name. There's no point in changing it."
The teacher summarized the lesson his pupil had learned this way — "By seeing Alive as dead, Rich as poor, Tourguide as lost, Bad has accepted himself.''

The different names we call ourselves that limit or enhance us

Poem: Before I by Insiya K. Patanwala

Before I became strong, I knew what it was like
To be weak,
How difficult it is to love yourself,
To find the wholeness that you seek.

Before I knew the light,
I have had my fair share of darkness, too,
Where my world fell into a hopelessness
And I didn't know how to get through.

For I have known the tears it takes,
The courage to stand up again,
When you are broken down and bruised
And you know nothing but the pain.

You forget to appreciate love,
If you haven't seen the hate,
Till you forget the meaning of smile and laughter,
And your heart is left abate.

I have known the strength and courage
It requires to get it right,
To face the things that hold you down
And hold your head up and fight.

Before I was who I am now,
I was someone I didn't want to be.
I was lost, battered, and defeated,
Before I knew how to be me!

Rumination

Close your eyes, fall in love, stay there.
Rumi

Benediction

Beloved, Mother Father God.
May I accept myself as I am today with all my flaws and shortcomings and practice self compassion and forgiveness .
May I stop looking outwards for validation and worth but look inwards and remember that I am your beloved child.
May I learn to love and accept myself unconditionally and remember that you already approve of me just as I am.
May I take time daily to acknowledge something positive about myself and give thanks for it.
May I always know that I am here to express all that you created me to be and that there’s no judgment as to what that should be or look like.

Song: The Truth about me by Joel Vaughan

What we believe about ourselves based on our upbringing still colours whether we accept ourselves or not.

PRAYER IS THE KEY

September 25, 2022

“True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that – it is a spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.”

— Charles Spurgeonn

“Our praying, however, needs to be pressed and pursued with an energy that never tires, a persistency which will not be denied, and a courage which never fails.”

— E. M. Bounds

Sacred Text

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:18

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
Jeremiah 29:12Jeremiah 29:12

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
Romans 8:26

STORY x 2

All us wedding guests stood as the bride made her entrance. I looked over at a woman across the aisle from where I sat on the groom’s side. I’d noticed her at the bridal shower as well, but never got around to introducing myself—or was it reintroducing myself? She looked so familiar I could have sworn I’d met her before. Something about her—
Of course! She’d hardly changed in the 25 years since our brief encounter. I was walking in the park with my infant nephews when a stranger peeped into the carriage. “Twins!” she said. “Are they yours?”
“They’re my nephews,” I said. Then I surprised myself by adding, “I can’t have children.”|
Children were all I thought about in those days. I’d been married nearly eight years and trying to have a baby almost that long. After many tests, doctors told me it wasn’t going to happen. The adoption agency said we were in for a long wait. But none of this was something a stranger needed to know!

“God can handle your doubt, anger, fear, grief, confusion, and questions. You can bring everything to him in prayer.”

— Rick Warren

The woman didn’t seem at all uncomfortable by my confession. Only kind. “I’ll pray for you,” she said.
Her words were a comfort. But I was shocked when—only two weeks later—I found out I was pregnant. That was some prayer! My son, now 25, grew up hearing the story of the woman who prayed for him to be born.

At the reception I found my chance to approach her. “Excuse me...” I said.
She didn’t hesitate: “We have a connection, don’t we?”
The best connection of all: prayer.

How to pray in short
A prayer that contains all our needs and conveys our situation.
It’s just five words: “I’m in Your hands.”

The one-syllable is the essential matter of this prayer.
The Cloud of Unknowing who suggested that a one-syllable word can often be the best word for prayer. What could be more all-encompassing than “God?”
The Cloud author, however, does not suggest a multi word mantra or poly-syllabic word like Maranatha. He repeatedly insists on praying with one single, mono-syllabic word. He suggests ‘God’ or ‘Love’ and using that repeatedly to batter the cloud that separates us from God. He suggests that the word be a ‘dart of longing love’, an arrow piercing the cloud. The most important thing is that the word must be only one syllable.

God/Love

“A place of peace in the midst of chaos. A stillpoint. A quiet center within the heart of the storms. Prayer is not always a recitation. … Prayer means to spend time with, to abide with, the presence of the holy in your life. Take that time, with no agenda, to sit in stillness with the Spirit. Let the sound of your heartbeat convey all you need to say. Open your mind to the infinite. Feel the presence of profound love. ”

— Steven Charleston

The monosyllabic word as the shortest possible unit of time and therefore as closest to eternity

Amen
Let it be true. Let it happen. Let it be as God would will it to be. “Amen.”

Maranatha - Come Lord and Invocation to God

“Prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.”

— E.M Bounds

Poem PRAY FOR PEACE BY Ellen Bass

Pray to whomever you kneel down to:
Jesus nailed to his wooden or plastic cross,
his suffering face bent to kiss you,
Buddha still under the bodhi tree in scorching heat,
Adonai, Allah. Raise your arms to Mary
that she may lay her palm on our brows,
to Shekhina, Queen of Heaven and Earth,
to Inanna in her stripped descent.

Then pray to the bus driver who takes you to work.
On the bus, pray for everyone riding that bus,
for everyone riding buses all over the world.
Drop some silver and pray.

Waiting in line for the movies, for the ATM,
for your latte and croissant, offer your plea.
Make your eating and drinking a supplication.
Make your slicing of carrots a holy act,
each translucent layer of the onion, a deeper prayer.

To Hawk or Wolf, or the Great Whale, pray.
Bow down to terriers and shepherds and Siamese cats.
Fields of artichokes and elegant strawberries.

Make the brushing of your hair
a prayer, every strand its own voice,
singing in the choir on your head.
As you wash your face, the water slipping
through your fingers, a prayer: Water,
softest thing on earth, gentleness
that wears away rock.

Making love, of course, is already prayer.
Skin, and open mouths worshipping that skin,
the fragile cases we are poured into.

If you’re hungry, pray. If you’re tired.
Pray to Gandhi and Dorothy Day.
Shakespeare. Sappho. Sojourner Truth.

When you walk to your car, to the mailbox,
to the video store, let each step
be a prayer that we all keep our legs,
that we do not blow off anyone else’s legs.
Or crush their skulls.
And if you are riding on a bicycle
or a skateboard, in a wheelchair, each revolution
of the wheels a prayer as the earth revolves:
less harm, less harm, less harm.

And as you work, typing with a new manicure,
a tiny palm tree painted on one pearlescent nail,
or delivering soda or drawing good blood
into rubber-capped vials, twirling pizzas–

With each breath in, take in the faith of those
who have believed when belief seemed foolish,
who persevered. With each breath out, cherish.

Pull weeds for peace, turn over in your sleep for peace,
feed the birds, each shiny seed
that spills onto the earth, another second of peace.
Wash your dishes, call your mother, drink wine.

Shovel leaves or snow or trash from your sidewalk.
Make a path. Fold a photo of a dead child
around your Visa card. Scoop your holy water
from the gutter. Gnaw your crust.
Mumble along like a crazy person, stumbling
your prayer through the streets.

“In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church, where I kneel. Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist. ”

— Rabia Sufi Mystic

Rumination

When I am with you, everything is prayer.
Rumi

Benediction

Bodhisattva Prayer for All Humanity — Shantideva, Indian Buddhist sage 700 A.D.

“May I be a guard for those who need protection,
a guide for those on the path,
a boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood.
May I be a lamp in the darkness,
a resting place for the weary,
a healing medicine for all who are sick,
a vase of plenty, a tree of miracles.
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings,
may I bring sustenance and awakening,
enduring like the earth and sky
until all beings are freed from sorrow
and all are awakened.”

Song: PRAY BY Sanctus Real

Questing for Peace

September 18, 2022

Woman sat at the end of a dock meditating

Humans have been entirely at peace for only 268 of the past 3,400 years - just 8 percent of recorded history.

The United Nations sanctioned International Peace Day is September 21st. The mission of “Peace Day” is to have at least one non-violent, cease-fire day throughout the world.

Queens Death - Conflicting view points robbing you of peace Jose SOM Affirmation I allow myself to experience peace in everything I do.

“When you make peace with yourself, you make peace with the world”

— Maha Ghosananda

Story: Portrait of Peace

Once there was a king who offered to give a prize to an artist who could best paint a depiction of peace. Many artists decided to participate and sent the king their masterpieces.
Among the various masterpieces, one picture was of a calm lake closely resembling peacefully towering snow-capped mountains where a blue sky with fluffy clouds was overheard.
The picture was exemplary. Most of those who viewed the paintings of peace from different artists thought that this painting was the best among all others.
But the king had another winner in mind. To the crowd’s surprise, the picture that won was of a mountain too but was more plain and rugged than the other piece.
The sky was shady and looked angry because there was lightning. It was exactly the opposite of what peace should look like. The others thought that maybe the artist submitted a wrong painting showing storm rather than peace.
What others didn’t notice was that if you look closely at the painting, there is a tiny bush growing in the cracks of a rock. In the bush, there is a nest built by a mother bird and in the midst of the stormy weather, the bird sits peacefully on her nest.
In that specific portrait, it was depicted that in the presence of all the turmoil, there is still someone who can be calm in his or her heart.

Understanding the Real Meaning of Peace

Just like in the story, understanding that real peace comes from within – and not from what the environment dictates – is the first step to reaching a sense of peace.
Working and focusing on things that matter can help you realize that things may not be as bad as they seem and that you can handle them.

See Things from a New Perspective

Learning new and different perspectives can help change your life for the better.
In the story, the people only looked at the beauty of things and disregarded that calmness is possible in a not-so-tranquil place. If they only thought and looked harder enough through the paintings, they could have seen what the wise king saw in the stormy painting.
Seeing the whole picture of events, and not just always in black and white, can enable you to look at other possibilities and find out how to solve problems.

Accept that There are Things Beyond Your Control

The mother bird in the story knew that if the rain fell, there is nothing she could do about it. Instead of panicking and being restless about the situation, she just decided to remain calmly in her nest and wait for the storm out.
Being aware of the things you can and cannot control can make your life more peaceful. Accepting things, letting them go, and focusing on the present instead helps lose the power of any negative thoughts that you may have.

Unhook from Negative Thinking

If you only look and think of things negatively, then the more concerned you will be in your life.
Negative thoughts can fuel the noise around you but what is more difficult about it is that it is coming from within you.
How do you make it stop then? Recognize your negative self-talk and acknowledge its existence. The more you repress your negative thoughts, the more they will get louder and more frequent.
Once you recognize your negative thoughts, you can challenge them and think of opposite thoughts to alter your way of thinking. Developing and practicing relaxing techniques can also be helpful in situations like this.

Just Breathe

Being at the present moment can increase your peace of mind. One example of a simple but extremely powerful relaxing technique is breathing exercises.
By focusing on your breathing when things are getting quite chaotic can aid you to be more attuned to the present.

Finding Inner Peace Midst the New WorlD

To find inner and true peace can be a challenge for more than one reason. Our society is more connected than ever before, but this connection doesn’t always provide the comfort that we crave.
We are constantly bombarded with news updates, social media posts, and instant messaging alerts which perpetuate our feelings of never being “good enough”. At the same time, it can be hard to step away from all of this noise because of how much work needs to get done.
Nevertheless, learning and reminding yourselves to create a balance between solitude and connectedness to others, and develop an understanding of yourselves and others can all one day help you find the happiness you are searching for.

“If you are depressed you are living in the past if you are anxious you are living in the future, if you are at peace, you are living in the present

”

— Lao Tzu

Sacred Text

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.
Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 1 TIMOTHY 2:1-2
And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. COLOSSIANS 3:15
God is Peace, His name is peace, and all is bound together in peace. Zohar Leviticus 10b,
He brings together those who are divided, he encourages those who are friendly; he is a peacemaker, a lover of peace, impassioned for peace, a speaker of words that make for peace. Buddhism Tevijja Sutta

Poem: Finding Peace

peace is when you feel at ease,
within your skin, in your own body,
peace is when, you close your eyes,
and exhale out, all your worries,
peace is when, you hold your love,
against the cold, of the winter nights,
peace is when, you hear the song,
of crickets, in the otherwise silent air,
peace is when, you could sleep,
without the occurrence, of nightmares,
peace is when, you see a flower,
and analyze, the vibrancy of its colors,
peace is when, someone thanks you,
for you have been good to them,
peace is when, you genuinely smile,
without a care, of those glaring eyes,
peace is when, you greet a friend,
even though, you have quarreled,
peace is when, you invoke your soul,
to shed away, the weights it carry,
peace is when, you cook a stew or curry,
and its aroma wafts, into your nostrils,
peace is when … whenever
you feel at peace

peace is when, I look into the mirror,
without sneering, at my own reflection,
peace is when, I could do something,
get a feel of activity, in these stationary days,
peace is when, I get to go outside,
and breathe the same air, as others,
peace is when, I find a song, long lost,
with the voice of which, I adjoin my voice,
peace is when, I realize something,
a solution, though temporary, but there,
peace is when, I receive a message,
from some one across the ocean,
peace is when, that some one asks me,
how I am, even though we have never met,
peace is when I find a piece of art,
beckoning me, to gape at it,
peace is when, I solve a puzzle,
for I see myself, in a positive light,
peace is when, I read someone’s writing,
and get caught into, the web of those words,
peace is when, I write few letters and punctuation,
dissolving my entirety into them,
peace is when… whenever I
forget about this life

I wish a piece of peace, for me,
and some more for you

Rumination

Peaceful is the one who’s not concerned with having more or less.
Rumi

Benediction

Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the Son of peace to you

Song: Peace by Phil Joel

This too will pass - learn to embrace the flow and flux of life's impermanence.

September 11, 2022

"This too shall pass" text on illustration of sky and clouds

“This too shall pass” is a Persian adage??? translated and used in multiple languages. It reflects on the temporary nature, or ephemerality, of the human condition. Nothing, good or bad, lasts forever. A current situation or event, no matter how wonderful or horrible it is, will not last forever.

It reflects on the temporary nature, or ephemerality, of the human condition — that neither the bad, nor good, moments in life ever indefinitely last. The general sentiment is often expressed in wisdom literature throughout history and across cultures, but the specific phrase seems to have originated in the writings of the medieval Persian Sufi poets

Story: All Things Pass

“The wise remind themselves that ‘This too shall pass’ even when things are good; the foolish, only when things are bad.”

— Mokokoma Mokhonoana

There are many "stories" or folkloric tales about where this saying has originated. It's best known as coming from King Solomon, who reigned in Israel from 970 to 931 BCE. He was a wise man, and was seeking knowledge on how to make a sad man happy and a happy man sad.
He requested from his minister, Benaiah, to bring him a ring with these magical powers. Well, Benaiah searched and searched all over for this ring. Most likely the King knew he would never find it, but Benaiah didn't give up.
He finally went into the slums of Jerusalem and found a craftsman who worked in metal. The craftsman turned to his grandfather with this odd request, who in turn went into his workshop and appeared with a ring.
This gold ring he brought out to the minister to present to the king had this phrase engraved on the inside of the ring, "This Too Shall Pass."
When presented to the King, he was dumbfounded. No one thought there could be such a thing that makes you stop in your path-- reflect on the past, the present and the future and remind you that the state you are in is not going to last forever.

“It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.”

— Thich That Hanh

“Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit.”

— Napoleon Hill

A very similar tale is told by Persian Sufi poets Rumi and Fariddudun Attar. It also ends with a ring cast in gold (and rubies) with an inscription on the ring that says, 'This too shall pass.'
The fable reads like this-- a young, poor scholar is wandering the Maranjab desert and has no place to sleep and eat. A well-off farmer offers this young man shelter and food, but on the day of his departure when the young man asks about the farmer's kindness and hospitality his response is, "This too shall pass."
Years pass and the scholar visits the farmer, only to find him poor and disheveled, working as a low-grade servant. Floods had come and destroyed his prosperous lands, but not to fret, he tells the scholar for "this too shall pass."
The scholar ages and becomes famous and well-renowned in the area and moves back to the Maranjab desert. The king of the time had recently lost his wife and son during childbirth and was thoroughly depressed, crying himself to sleep every night. He sought out a ring that would cheer his spirits, appease his suffering.
People from all over tried to help, but nothing of importance resonated with with king. Then, the scholar, now not so young, was sought out to advise the king and perhaps suggest a phrase. Shortly thereafter, a ring appeared from the scholar with a phrase inscribed inside of the gold and ruby ring:

There once was a Zen student, studying under a great Zen master. The student had trouble learning, and especially meditation came really hard to him. He went to his teacher and said:
“My meditation practice sucks. I am always distracted. Can’t concentrate. My legs hurt. I keep thinking of all kinds of things, or just fall asleep. I just can’t do it! It sucks!”
The master looked at him and said:
“It will pass.”
The student went back to his room, and kept on trying to meditate. A week later, the student burst into his teacher’s room. He screamed:
“Wow! My meditation is so good now. I feel so in touch with myself. So peaceful! It’s great!”
The master just sat there and replied:
“It will pass.”

Sacred Text

2 Corinthians 4: 17-18
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

When we surrender to affliction, why does it never seem “light” or for the moment? Because by surrendering to it and allowing ourselves to consider it negatively, we lose the power to develop self-dominion, which would show us the temporal nature of affliction.
How does affliction work for us “more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory”? By training us to look beyond the apparent to the real, beyond the external to the reality of the inner life, and also by teaching us to recognize cause in effects.
How can we look at “the things which are not seen”? We can look at them with the eye of the mind, seeing them in our thoughts.
What is the “glory of man?” His mental endowment or his capacity to develop powers of perception and reflection, to correlate ideas, and to enter into the universal Mind or Spirit.

“‘All conditioned things are impermanent’ — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.” The Buddha
This is a genuine Buddha quote. It’s from the Dhammapada, verse 277.

Accepting Impermanence Helps Cultivate Positive Wellbeing

Research in the field of positive psychology suggests that external factors don’t determine one’s happiness. Certainly, positive external factors compound and complement one’s overall contentment, but internal factors are required to achieve an authentically joyous life.
Genuine happiness comes from within, and it can be cultivated through mindfulness meditation and other activities, including gratitude journaling, awe journaling, and focusing on the good.

Impermanence allows people to cope more easily with trying times. If someone comes to the conclusion that life is not permanent, and neither is anything in it (like one’s partner, children, job, physical capabilities, financial and social status), then one is more likely to react gracefully when something perceived as valuable is taken away (LaBier, 2012).

Poem: This, Too, Shall Pass Away by Santa Wilson Smith

WHEN SOME GREAT SORROW , like a mighty river,
Flows through your life with peace-destroying power,
And dearest things are swept from sight forever,
Say to your heart each trying hour:
"This, too, shall pass away."

When ceaseless toil has hushed your song of gladness,
And you have grown almost too tired to pray,
Let this truth banish from your heart its sadness,
And ease the burdens of each trying day:
"This, too, shall pass away."

When fortune smiles, and, full of mirth and pleasure,
The days are flitting by without a care,
Lest you should rest with only earthly treasure,
Let these few words their fullest import bear:
"This, too, shall pass away."

When earnest labor brings you fame and glory,
And all earth's noblest ones upon you smile,
Remember that life's longest, grandest story
Fills but a moment in earth's little while:
"This, too, shall pass away."

Rumination

The rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorns.
Rumi

Benediction

May you Go into your week with your ears pitched to the sound of God’s voice calling your name.
May you Go into your week with your eyes peeled for the face of Christ in unexpected places.
May you Go into your week with your soul poised to acknowledge the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Peace.
May you go into your week embracing the good and the bad, the highs and the lows with the awareness that this too shall pass.

Song: Switch BY Symphony

Wu Wei - Non doing - No agenda - Follow Nature

September 4, 2022

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself”

— Matsuo Bashō

Wu Wei is a Chinese concept central to Taoism and a core theme of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching. Translated literally as ‘non-doing,’ Wu Wei is not so much about ‘doing nothing’ as it is about aligning our movement with the greater flow of life. Often referred to as ‘natural action,’ Wu Wei does not involve excessive effort or struggle, but a kind of ‘going with the flow’ where we are able to move with the energy of the moment and respond freely to whatever situation that arises.
‘noncontrivance’ or ‘nonforcing’. It means freedom from reflexive doing: acting when it is time to act, not acting when it is not time to act. Action is thus aligned with the natural movement of things, in service to that which wants to be born.

What Lao Tzu discovered is that we are already “in motion” as part of the flow of the Universe, and that when we resist the flow, we take unnecessary action. Not-doing is taking away the “unnecessary action” that clutters up our minds, our to-do lists, our sanity, and our lives.

In pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added. In the practice of the Tao, every day something is dropped. Less and less do you need to force things, until finally you arrive at non-action. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. True mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way. It can’t be gained by interfering

We each have moments in our life when we access flow. In these moments – through sheer focused intent or absolute letting go (or a combination of both) – we enter a state of connectedness to what we are doing, and our movements become simultaneously highly productive and effortlessly expressed.

What if, beyond the many details and mixed agendas of our daily life, we each had direct access to experience a sense of oneness and flow everyday, no matter what we were doing?

Many Taoist adepts chose to explore the essence of Wu Wei by withdrawing from society – wandering freely through the mountains, meditating for long periods in caves

According to Lao Tzu, the ultimate expression of Wu Wei is found not only in retreat from the world but in our experience of flow in the way that we live in it.

Wu Wei tells us that ultimately the most effective way of doing anything is to follow the way of nature. As we tune into the natural flow of any task, we may find that there are critical actions for us to take, but by aligning with the energy of what we are pursuing, we can often achieve way more by doing less.

How nature does its work reveals many perfect examples of Wu Wei. The cycles of the sun, the rotation of the earth, the orbit of the moon, the flow of rivers to create and feed valleys, the life of a tree to grow and give life to so many others… Each is highly productive, fit for the purpose to naturally deliver that which it was born to deliver. Each does its work without doing it.

If we are growing a plant and we have created the right conditions for growth with healthy soil, sun and water, there comes a time when the very best way to ensure the growth of the plant is simply to leave it alone. More water, more sun, more fertiliser won’t help, in fact, too much of any of these may stifle the growth of the plant. We remain attentive, connected to the plant’s needs but for the time being, doing nothing is just what is needed. Wu Wei teaches us to not force actions but to let them take their course of nature.

When we look around at the world today, it seems there is so much to do. Amidst our striving for progress, personal achievement, and in some cases, survival, the idea of ‘non-doing’ can feel out of reach. Fortunately, the essence of Wu Wei is simplicity and there are some small things we can do (and not do!) each day to help us align with the natural flow of life. Here are a few you could try for yourself:

This “Not-Doing” requires major conscious paradigm shifts in to-do lists and also to our life:

Redefine productivity from getting the most done to having the greatest impact with the least effort
Redefine “not-doing” from laziness to intelligent action
Redefine “perspective-taking” time from “wasted” to highly productive time (it’s Covey’s “sharpening the saw”)
Redefine the mark of a leader as someone who succeeds “by pushing hard” to someone who “wisely looks for flow”
Redefine our belief that if it’s to happen we’re going to have to do it, to trusting that we are well taken care of
Redefine our belief that life is meant to be a struggle to life is meant to be effortless. It is if we pursue inspired action.
Redefine success in our to-do list and in life from acquiring (things, accomplishments, control, self-importance) to letting go (non-attachment to things, accomplishments, control, self-importance)

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives might be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. Wendell Berry, b. 1934

Finding Our Wu Wei

Spending time in nature – If our fundamental aim is to align with the natural flow of life, there is no better teacher and no better place to connect with this aspect of ourselves than in the natural world.

Giving without condition – As we come into alignment with the natural world, we are reminded of the generosity that comes when living systems are in harmony with themselves and each other. A single seed produces fruit which feeds many and gives forth a thousand more seeds. The sun gives everything that it has without being drained. A river gives life each step and turn of the way as it follows its calling from mountain to the sea. One of our most natural expressions of flow we experience in life is to give freely to each other. When we allow ourselves to follow our spontaneous callings to give – even in small ways – we bring ourselves into alignment with the generous nature of life and (without trying or looking for it) open ourselves to receive in ways that we could not have imagined.

Letting go of how we think it’s supposed to look – There may always be elements of our life that we consciously plan for, but every step along the way will invariably reveal passageways and possibilities that we could not have predicted. Sometimes our efforts to fulfill the plan and gain a predictable outcome shuts us off from seeing what other possibilities may be waiting to reveal.

Staying open to spontaneous emergence – One of the fundamental principles of Wu Wei is that the essence of flow is not premeditated, but arises spontaneously.

Discern between “inspired doing” vs. “industrious doing”

The hardest thing about this is the tension it creates with others. When you shift away from moving towards things, progressing towards extrinsic goals, or doing things in exchange for something else, it can raise alarms.

Sacred Text

The Way is ever without action, yet nothing is left undone. Tao Te Ching Ch 37
The highest virtue does nothing. Yet, nothing needs to be done. The lowest virtue does everything. Yet, much remains to be done. Tao Te Chin Ch 38
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. Tao Te Ching Ch 48

“Practice Not-Doing And Everything Will Fall Into Place.”

— Lao Tzu

Poem: All things return to their root by Charles Eisenstein

Returning to the root, there is stillness.
In stillness, true purpose returns.
This is what is real.
Knowing the real, there is clarity.
Not knowing the real, foolish action brings disaster.
From knowing the real comes spaciousness,
From spaciousness comes impartiality,
From impartiality comes sovereignty,
From sovereignty comes what is natural.
What comes naturally, is the Tao.
From the Tao comes what is lasting,
Persisting beyond one’s self’”.

Story

One of my best examples of practicing “not doing” occurred 20 years ago after I had just finished reading the Stephen Mitchell version of the Tao te Ching, which contains many paradoxical statements about “doing nothing”, for example:

“Do nothing and nothing remains undone.”

“Practice not-doing and everything will fall into place.”

“Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving until the right action happens by itself?”

I remember feeling at the time that the Tao te Ching’s writing and concepts were lofty and beautiful, but that they could never apply to the nitty-gritty realities of daily life in Los Angeles. That evening after finishing the book, I walked into a Halloween party in another unit in my building dressed as a monk (which seemed an appropriate costume given my frame of mind).
After walking into the party, I noticed a stunningly beautiful woman sitting on the couch across the room. I immediately wanted to ask her out but knew she was way out of my league. She was sitting with a girlfriend and was already surrounded by a group of guys trying to hit on her. Therefore I resolved to put what seemed like a ridiculous concept in the Taoist philosophy to a seemingly impossible empirical “acid test”.
I decided that if the Universe wanted me to meet this woman it would somehow have to happen without my lifting a finger and by my doing as close to “nothing” as possible. I sat down in an isolated chair across the room and let my mind clear and proceeded to do exactly nothing to the best of my ability. I did not eat or drink or talk to anyone or make eye contact or even think about anything. I simply resolved to do nothing and let life unfold naturally with as little interference from me as possible, no matter how embarrassing it might be to sit all alone at a party full of other people laughing and drinking and talking in groups.
After about 5 or 10 minutes, the woman in whom I was interested walked over to me and started a conversation, asking me about my costume. I was extremely surprised she was now standing right in front of me, but without really thinking I stood up and responded. After talking to her for a bit, I asked her if she had a boyfriend. Said “Aha! Now comes the direct approach”, commenting on my sudden reversal in social tactics. She answered that she was not dating anyone seriously. I then asked her for her phone number. After we finished talking, I went straight back to my condo where I promptly wrote down her phone number before I forgot it. I called her the next day and asked her out. We have been together ever since.
Fast-forward 20 years to July 2020, she and I have two wonderful children and will soon be celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary! Such is the surprising power of “not-doing”! As the Tao te Ching says:
Some say that my teaching is nonsense.
Others call it lofty but impractical.
But to those who have looked inside themselves,
this nonsense makes perfect sense.
And to those who put it into practice,
this loftiness has roots that go deep.
William F. Stubbeman

Rumination

The moon stays bright when it doesn’t avoid the night.
Rumi

Benediction

Blessings of a kind heart upon you;
Blessings of the eyes of compassion upon you;
Blessings of giving to the earth upon you;
Blessings of the wisdom of the seasons upon you;
Blessings of breathing freely upon you;
Blessings of this moment upon you.
Jack Kornfield

Sunday Soul Reflections

vibrations

How to measure human vibrational frequency

Generally positive

Generally negative

How to raise your frequency

Unplug from the matrix

Bathe

Move your body

Organize your environment

Go on a news detox

Practice gratitude

How to use the law of vibration to your advantage:

Story

Poem: Rachel Laurene High Vibrations

Sacred Text

The great Third Hermetic Principle

Eric Butterworth

Meditation Ernest Holmes

Rumination

Benediction

Song: Thoughts become things - Fearless Soul

12 Laws of the Universe

Sacred Text

Story

Poem: In a world of Angels by Carl Scott Harker

Meditation: Paul Ferrini

Rumination

Benediction

Song: We’re all one by Fearless soul

Sacred Text

Story

Poem: Transformation by Deborah Ann Belka

Meditation — 365: Science of Mind, A Year of Daily Wisdom from Ernest Holmes

Rumination

Benediction

Song: Change - Jermaine Dupuis, Ne Yo, Jonta Austen, Common etc

Sacred Text

Poem: Wishes For A New Year BY John Peter Read

Story: A New Year Perspective by Filoiann Wiedenhoff

Meditation

Rumination

Benediction: The Year Ahead

Song: Intimate with the Infinite by Amy Steinberg

Sacred Text: Mathew

Story: The Greatest Christmas Gift By Lysa Allman-Baldwin

Poem: The Color of Love Robert Hawkins The Hawks Quill

Christmas Mediation

Rumination: I Place My Gifts” by Howard Thurman

Benediction

Song: We the Kingdom - Christmas Day by CHRIS Tomlin

Poem: Our Faith/Hope - Our Joy - Our Peace, By Deborah Ann Belka

POEM 2: UNTITLED

POEM 3: The Mood of Christmas…” by Howard Thurman

Sacred Text

Story: Written by Calvary Ballard

Rumination

Benediction

Song: Lift up your eyes by Danny Gokey

Sacred Text

Poem BY Vivian Fabreggs

the second advent candle

Story (original STORY BY Bob Perks)

Rumination

Benediction

December Christmas songs: Matt Maher He Shall Reign for evermore

The Difference Between Gratitude and Thankfulness

Gratitude challenge on LIK

1. Thankfulness improves relationships

2. Thankfulness creates contentment

3. Thankfulness feels good

4. Thankfulness keeps us healthy

5. Thankfulness cultivates humility

6. Thankfulness is contagious

7. Thankfulness produces positivity

8. Thankfulness promotes generosity

9. Thankfulness increases likability

10. Thankfulness displays God’s character

Sacred Text

Story

POEM 3: The Mood of Christmas…”  by Howard Thurman