Breaking Out of My Box

Okay, so everyone knows I have a "spiritual" side and all of my blog posts have been rather philosophical in nature.  And they don't show my humorous side.  So many people tell me I should be a comedienne. But I don't think I'm all that funny, I'm just normal.

And then I think, who the hell wants to hear what I have to say anyway?  Isn't blogging just some sort of ego-boosting exercise?  Is it a sort of mental incest?  Aren't we all just making this stuff up as we go along? Plus I write a weekly email (on spiritual matters, of course) and so I tell myself I do plenty of writing.

So, with all of my excuses, I've managed to only write five whole blogs here in 2013.  Will I do better in
2014?  Am I "flirting with life" or "napping with life?"

Anyway, this is all leading up to giving myself permission to step outside of my own self-made blogging box.  Of course, I'll continue with some spiritual ideas (I can't help myself) - but I'm also going to chime in with my own perspective on life.  Maybe add in some recipes (or I may start another blog, but not sure how that goes - thinking of calling it "flirting with food.")  I don't cook much so that one could have less than five posts per year (although I'm getting ready to post my first recipe as soon as I finish this blog).

Okay, here comes the spiritual stuff

Where have you allowed yourself to be stuck in a self-made box? What don't you allow yourself to think, to experience, or to do because it doesn't fall into the "identity" of what you've decided for yourself?  DO. NOT. SUCCUMB. TO. THAT. BOX.

Let's make a grand showing in 2014 - - yes, the year to be seen!

The Color of Perception

Are we troubled or unhappy because of the things that happen in our lives, or because of our our perception about the things that happen in our lives?  

Some of us find it difficult to be happy. Maybe we've sold out on our dreams, we've followed the rules, we've played it safe, we did what we were told, and we worked hard - yet things didn't work out as we planned.  Has this ever happened to you?  We may look at others who are successful, who haven't followed the rules, who got what we wanted and we declare life isn't fair.  

If even one person can accomplish something; if even one person can remain joyful in the midst of a challenge; if even one person can overcome fear, then we all can.  Maybe the difference is simply a matter of perception.  We don't need to be like the comic strip character Ziggy when he is coming around a corner. Heading toward that corner is a man carrying a sign that says, "Happiness is just around the corner."  Ziggy said, "Gee, I must have missed it."

We don't need to miss out on happiness, joy, gratitude, or peace. How are we spending our days? How much are we able to see the delight and blessings in our day-to-day routine?  And how often do we get distracted because we see what other people are doing or getting and get frustrated, envious, or dissatisfied?  When we're feeling that way, we've lost all touch with our own Divine nature and we've lost touch with the idea that God is Good, all the time:  24/7/365. 

Part of the problem is we have learned our perception patterns from others.  We have learned how to be overly critical; we have learned to feel guilty and “less than” because we’ve made mistakes.  Then Monkey Mind chimes in and says, “This is terrible! I call myself an evolving spiritual being, and yet I do things like this. I certainly hope nobody ever finds out about it!” 

We've all made mistakes.  That is part of being human.

The important thing is our perception regarding the mistake.  

We could own up to it and remember God is everywhere present or we could pretend to be spiritually superior and snub our noses at those who have admitted to making mistakes and try and make sure no one finds out about the mistakes we've made. 

The gift has been given and the Presence of the Divine is with us always.  It is up to us to respond and what an invitation that is!  We can RSVP and step into a greater awareness of all that Life has to offer regardless of our our circumstances.  And that will help move us into our infinite possibilities. 

Patching a Leak With Joy

In 1937 architect Frank Lloyd Wright built a house for industrialist Hibbard Johnson. One rainy evening Johnson was entertaining distinguished guests for dinner when the roof began to leak.  The water seeped through directly above Johnson himself, dripping steadily onto his bald head. Irate, he called Wright in Phoenix, Arizona. 

“Frank,” he said, “you built this beautiful house for me and we enjoy it very much. But … the roof leaks, and right now I am with some friends and distinguished guests and it is leaking right on top of my head.” 

There was a pause on the line, and Frank Lloyd Wright reportedly replied: “Well, Hib, why don’t you move your chair?”

If we have no joy in our lives, we have a problem.  The world looks bleak, we find reasons to complain, our energy is low, and we feel separate and apart from our good and our God.  We have a leak somewhere and we need to find a way to deal with it.  

Sometimes we like to point out that we have good reasons not to be joyful; our lives are nothing but problems. We aren't satisfied with our jobs, we don't have enough money, we are lonely, our health isn't good, our car is constantly in the shop for repairs, we haven't had a vacation in years (and on and on it may go.)  

It may be difficult to be joyful when we are struggling with troubles, or overwhelmed by pain, or unsure of our future.  But there’s a problem with THAT approach to life. If we wait till everything to turns out the way we want them to in our live - if we’re not going to be joyful until all the leaks are patched in our lives – then we’re NEVER going to experience joy. Or, if we do have joy, it will be a rare occurrence.

Sometimes we just need to move our focus in a new direction and I’d say the direction we need to move is toward the Divine. We need to move away from the leak.  If we have little or no joy in our lives, it could be due to a feeling of separation between God and us.  It could be because we’ve forgotten who we are.  It could be because we have forgotten there is a Power for Good in the Universe that is always working and always available and we are using it.  It could be because we’ve forgotten we are the darlings of the Divine.

It is time to remember the Truth:  The Power of Joy moves beyond our circumstances.

The Power of Joy helps move us into a state of peace, harmony, goodwill, abundance, dynamic attraction, self-love, vibrancy, and wholeness.  
            

The Life of God is in us – let’s be joyful.  The Love of God is in us – let’s be joyful.  The Power of God is in us – let’s be joyful.  The music and dance of God is in us, let’s be joyful.  The Laughter of God is in us, let’s be joyful. 

Beware the Ides of March

Today is March 15, the Ides of March.  When Shakespeare wrote, "Beware the Ides of March," he was giving a warning to Caesar.  When I think "Beware the Ides of March," I think about a warning of a different sort; this warning is about the perils of spending too much time thinking about the past.

You see, sometimes we have a tendency to re-live our failures and we criticize ourselves; we go over scenarios as what we should have done or said differently and how things would have turned out differently.  When we allow ourselves to dwell on past mistakes, we are not moving forward.  Fear and regret kill our dreams and stop us from trying something new.

And not all of our time thinking about the past is negative.  Sometimes we want to remember our peak experiences and our various successes.  Maybe we felt "on top of the world" or we felt we were invincible.  We love those feeling and enjoy replaying those scenarios over and over again.

The problem with both of these examples is that we don't live in the past and the more we focus on past victories or failures, the more effort it takes for us to achieve lift-off in the present.  We talk ourselves into playing safe, not taking any risks, and being comfortable.  We can become so comfortable with a certain state of mind that we try and create a future based on what we already know. 

Yet, there is something within us that wants to grow, expand, and become more than we were yesterday.  

We must dare to visualize and picture ourselves succeeding.  We must dare to dream it, to capture it, and then to soar. We cannot soar if we’re sitting in a chair; we cannot soar in front of the television watching soap operas, sports, or reality TV; we cannot soar while telling everyone about all the wonderful things we’re going to do in the future; we cannot soar by looking at a book about diets and then eating the same things we’ve always eaten; and we cannot soar by saying negative things about ourselves and what we believe we can’t do.

So, if there is a dream, a desire, or something you get excited about when you are talking to a friend, do it. Make a commitment to move forward step-by-step, even if you don't see all of the steps.  Do that thing which is deep within your heart and mind to do. It will not only be a blessing to you, but could be a blessing to the entire world.

Start now.  Get started in the next 72 hours.  Don’t wait.  The moment you’ve been waiting for is now.  The person you’ve been waiting for is you.  Take that step and be willing to soar into your infinite possibilities. 

A Matter of Principle

Have you ever been in a group and felt like you just didn't belong? Have you felt like you were a fraud or a phoney and if people knew you, they'd realize you weren't good enough? Have you ever felt like you really didn't matter?

Just because we believe something, doesn't mean it's true; it may simply be a habit of thinking. And if we have a habit of thinking we don't matter, we end up diluting our joy, our happiness, our ability to engage fully in life, and our conscious connection with the Divine.

 

Who are you?  Are you simply a collection of memories?  Are you someone's family member?  Are you what you do for a living?  How many different ways do we describe oursevles by using the words, "I am.....?"  For me, I've commonly described myself in the following ways: I am a minister, I am a coach, I am a mother, I am not good at meeting people for the first time, I am a great speaker and story-teller, I am too fat, I am smart, I am not always likeable - - and the list could go on and on.

 

The problem comes when we think we are what we think we are. In his book "The Untethered Soul," Michael Singer tells us we've only ever had one problem and that is the voice in our head.  We believe our voice when it tells us we are less than, we are not good enough, we've been abused, we've lied, we don't deserve love, we have to earn love, we shouldn't trust, and we must never let ourselves be hurt.  When we believe that and we think we are that - it is easy to feel like a fraud or a phoney and to think we don't matter.

 

However, that is never the Truth and it never will be the Truth.  It is just an idea (and a limiting idea at that!)  You are not the experience, you are the one who is experiencing; you are not your thoughts, you are the one doing the thinking.  There is a big differnce.  In the first case, when we think we are what we experience, we can feel powerless and victimized and simply hope for the best. But when we realize we have the choice to change our way of thinking, we can observe our situation(s) and not be defined by them.  This choice leads to freedom.

The Sufi mystic Rumi wrote, "You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and truth. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You're not meant for crawling, so don't. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly. Know this truth about you." It's time to change our habits of thinking and realize we are good enough and we do matter!

I Release and I Let Go

We're 19 days into 2013 and I sense change in the air. I do a ritual at the end of every year involving flash paper.  I write what I am willing to release and then see those ideas go up in flames.  This year, I decided to release two ideas which I felt would help make 2013 a distinctively better year than 2012:

1. Playing Small
2. The idea I need to have at least 2 days off per week in order to experience balance and happiness.  (you see, I work close to 7 days/week - 5 days at my J.O.B. and my evenings and weekends are spent preparing Sunday talks, updating my website(s) www.cplsedona.org and www.prosperitydr.com, writing, preparing class materials and lots of other things.  So, it seems like I'm always working.)
    

In the past, just because I turned the page in my calendar didn't necessarily equate to some sort of magic that propelled me forward.  Many of us simply hope 2013 will be much better than 2012, as if buying a new calendar and hanging it up on the wall is all we need to do.

 

If we want 2013 (or Monday or even today) to be better, happier, more joy-filled, or more prosperous we need to think and act differently.  We all know this.  I know this.  And this year, I'm taking different action than ever before. One of my actions is to constantly remember those two ideas I released with the flash paper.  I'm making a conscious choice to remember those daily and it has made a difference already. 

 

What idea(s) can you release which has hindered you from experiencing all Life has to offer? Let me give you a starting point.

If I asked you what one thing you needed right now in order to experience more joy or more happiness, what would it be? Do you think you need more money to be happier?  Do you think if you had more time you'd be happier?  Do you think if you had a relationship (or a better relationship) you'd be happier?  Do you think if you had a different job, you'd be happier? 

 

We have lots of ideas and opinions as to what we think is standing in our way of feeling happiness and joy.  The truth of the matter is the only thing standing in our way is our own thinking and believing.  Would you be willing to release the idea that anything is standing in your way?  Can you choose to be happy and joyful regardless of your circumstances?

 

If you are willing, then you can get about the business of creating the life you want and then 2013 will rock!