CLAIM YOUR AIM

CLAIM YOUR AIM

The energy in this crisp autumn air is activating a new wave of awakened souls within  humanity.  There is a deep longing within the collective consciousness that calls for communion and connection with the truth, with the DIVINE plan.  This longing is only fulfilled within. We must trust everyone is on their sovereign journey and there is a  divine plan unfolding.

                                       Pray for one another.- James 5:16

In recognizing the chaos of the world, there is also illumination occurring.  It is a time for transparency and we must pray for courage and strength to transform our collective existence.

Deep within we know the shift in humanity is real.  This life we are living is about wholeness.  Using intuition as a bridge allows a renaissance of creative expression and beauty to ignite our hearts with passion and purpose as well as accelerating the masses forward.  In trusting our innermost divine expression or God spark, we must let go of judgement, comparison and blame.  Realizing these all do not serve us and limit our collective energies to keep us separate and stuck in the illusion of fear.

We have a choice when faced with FEAR.  We can see it as “Forget Everything And Run” (another acronym is False Evidence Appearing Real) or in a more positive opportunity as “Face Everything And Rise”.  

                  Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.

                                                                          - 1 Corinthians 16:13

We practice integrity when our actions match our words, when intent comes from a balance of inner knowing and the joy of discovering the unknown.

To Claim our Aim we must allow ourselves to hold the tension of not knowing, creating an opening to connection, discernment and inner trust--- the path of expansion.  We must instill a sense of self-respect that teaches through choice, changing the fabric of interaction for humanity.  We are strong and wise, trusting our true Self to choose and react based on the present moment.  We are the inner strength taking aim at nurturing LIFE through the joy of choice, seeing the sacred in ALL we encounter.

There is a resplendent natural rhythm to Claiming our Aim. It  is our birthright, put in our hearts as a gift from the Divine Creator.  To NOT honor or affirm this would be blocking our power.  The power of co creating a peaceful, united world with love leading the way.

ROPE OF HOPE

                             ROPE OF HOPE

  Life offers infinite potentials and is bound by love.  Times gift is that it offers potential in each moment!  We have choices.  We can use a rope of hope to elevate us and help ourselves to overcome our problems or past stories. These bind us and only serve to create more “knots” that keep us from living a life a JOY.

  We can ask God to untie these knots for us.  We can also ask Blessed Mary “the untier of knots” to assist us where we cannot envision hopeful ways of untying our own knots. Our stories served us in bringing us to a new bridge to cross, yet it's time to become aware if we have placed desires of our hearts on hold.

  Were you supported in your formative years to express your thoughts and feelings in healthy ways?  If not, support yourself now.  You are capable of self love, self care and you are “enough” to create a beautiful ripple through the universe in accomplishing your highest potential.

  You are blessed and your heart will extend its energy to new potential!  The mind offers a path to the heart to create desires on Earth.  Do you resist feeling badly?  Do you realize each experience (good and bad)  can serve to transform you into benefiting yourself and others on your path.  Avoidance creates an illusion that is weak and easily breaks.  It is not self supporting.  To free your mind you must open your  hearts desires.  Open it to the JOY you want to create!  Open your imaginative abilities to the realm of what has yet to be created in your life.  Feel it with your heart, touch it with your mind (imagine).  FEEL IT, IMAGINE IT !

   What often closes the mind to new possibilities is “how”.  When the how is unknown, and our hearts are not strong we only know lack; unknown is painful.  Then the shutdown begins.  Why want only to be disappointed?  Why imagine only to see a reality of lack? The path can be so well worn and deep, that even the seasons no longer touch your reality.  There is no colorful spring or fall.  There is no growth or rest.  How to convince ourselves that there is more?  

  Take the Rope of Hope the heart offers, climb it and don’t let it go.  Life is bound by love--never will it stop offering you potential.  This is God’s gift to us, unconditionally he awaits us to grab ahold.  Grab the “Rope of Hope” that loves life and live it well.

  Let your mind touch those emotions of desire, joy, fulfillment, sharing, connection and new untapped potential.  That which you submerged long ago or perhaps was shushed by others and therefore quieted in your soul.  Could these feelings  be dormant, just awaiting to be extracted by your spirit?  There is a broader truth of life.  To open the mind begin with… “I don’t know YET….”  This opens you up and expands your parameters.  Those knots are loosened, untied and smoothed out.  God knows the “hows” so we don’t have to hold the tension of unknown.

  To allow our spirits to discover, experience and be curious opens us up to broader truths.  The journey of unknown potential softens and becomes known as we allow our hearts to lead us.  As we free our minds we cross bridges into new possibilities that await us.  We recognize we have infinite gifts latent within us to LOVE LIFE.  We are powerful and we are coming ON LINE!

  Stepping into a new path of Love begins with the choice “within”.  Choose to grab the “Rope of Hope” and climb upwards to your true and divinely unique potential!

DYING TO RISE

                             DYING TO RISE

All journeys of  spiritual awakening involve dying to the old and embracing the new. Spirituality is the means of helping us to remain connected to our inner life force, our God spark of divinity which sustains us.   We are impatient for growth and change to occur within a short time and also without much effort on our part.  However the “fullness” of our soul evolves slowly.  At birth we receive the seed of identity in which the essence of our authentic self is rooted.  In the first half of our lives, we explore our external identity.  We break away from our parents only to look to other people or external measures to define who we are.  We take on roles in our profession and our relationships.  We are spouses, sisters, brothers, parents, aunts, uncles, doctors, teachers, engineers and therapists.  We reinforce our egocentric selves this way, and it is purposeful.

     The paradox of spiritual identity is that in order to bloom, the seed must first die or surrender.  We must let go of all the external definitions of our identity.  We need to surrender to the internal nature of our being.  We must root ourselves in the soil of some spiritual tradition to be nurtured into full maturity.  Each Lenten season, we celebrate the cycle of death and rebirth as we walk the passion of Christ and relive the resurrection.   

    Surrender is not easy.  It is loss of security, control or connection that our previous identity provided for us.  Only the brave will undertake this journey.  During this time the guidance of a spiritual “friend” or soul friend is invaluable.  They companion us through the darkness and encourage us to wait rather than rush the transformation.  A spiritual friend secures a sacred space where gentle listening enables the discernment of our highest call to be “heard”.  This friendship of the soul  (soul friend is an ancient Celtic term also known as Anam Cara) makes it possible to journey together in a much deeper and intentional way that honors the holy and nurtures the growth of divine presence.   It is here where all of our previous experiences are bundled up and spun into a cohesive spiritual map full of tools that have already been acquired.  The “Whole” of the experiences we have lived become the exact fabric that create a new fullness of being in us.  

           “Love is our true identity.  We do not find the meaning of

            life by ourselves alone, we find it with another.”

                                                                    Thomas Merton

   Wherever you find the place where you realize there is more than your ego- that is the soul’s initiation.  Our soul’s journey will not begin until our first world has fallen apart.  Both descent and ascent are interconnected.  The spirit is already conspiring for a real authentic transformation.  We find this principal in the resurrection story.  Everything that happened to Jesus must happen to the soul.

    In our society where instant connection, busyness, over-commitment, internet buying and consuming are widespread, we need reminders that significant change takes time.  Even in the times of Jesus there was a need to enter into the waiting in the dark during the forty days where he struggled with how to lead others to a fuller understanding of God, not just for the Jewish people but for all the nations.  He prayed and had quiet meditation to discern what path was chosen for him.  He surrendered his human control to that of his Spiritual Guide, God his father.  

   Our false self  dying is not quite as dramatic as actual death,  but it does involve death or the relinquishment of ideas, dreams, and old identity that no longer serve our highest good.   In transforming and dying to those parts of ourselves that are not aligned with self awareness and insight, we birth our true divine self,  designed by God.   We are then able to strengthen human relationships in a mature and Christlike way.  Our true identity emerges unified in our desire to become heart centered stewards of humanities course.  

COMPASSIONATE CHOICE

                    Compassionate Choice

There is beauty and the potential of unseen miracles in every moment.  Miracles are what humanity calls things that the mind cannot explain.  Our minds can comprehend only what they have been exposed to and what they can imagine.  The mind of God however has access to every conceivable possibility of every single relationship between every single person and aspect of creation, in each moment!  Can you imagine?  So many “miracles” are possible for each and every one of us.  So many paths can unfold in each moment…..so many possibilities.

Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours.

                                                                                                         ~ Teresa of Avila

If we can imagine, at this very moment, we stand with an infinite variety of possible futures waiting for us to choose them.  Align your thoughts with love.  Align your feelings with love at least with love for yourself and then you will be so much more aligned to love others.  If a child came to you upset , you would hold the child, hug the child, comfort the child and then gently guide them to a greater reality.  If you love yourself kindly even the most difficult emotional times, you send out an energetic “signal” to the universe that allows for comfort to blanket your being.

If you say, “Here I am, I am doing my best in the moment.  I know better is possible, but I choose to be kind to myself, I choose to acknowledge that I wish to do better, I choose to ask the universe to send me healthy comfort and kindness to help me move into a better space” then you are choosing the best possible path in the moment!  

Of course there are even better paths and some ripe with LOVE.  Suppose you are upset at someone else and you are able, authentically to pray for compassion and just bless them for where they are on their unique path.  They are doing their best in the moment.  You begin to pray to see them through God’s eyes.  Suddenly you see someone who is wounded and struggling.  Some possibilities are you could not have anything to do with this individual again.  You may heal the relationship entirely.  You may walk away and trust the Divine to fix things in the right timing.  

Perhaps you have a dream, but do not know “how” this dream will occur.  We don’t have to worry about the “HOWS”..... the Divine knows infinite ways the path can unfold.  Choose the most authentic way to think, say and do now and you will find yourself automatically on a path to your dreams, or better! This will be the case whether you see them or not, whether we logically understand how things can work or not.  Self limiting thoughts can block God from providing miracles!  Our free will was gifted to us as “choice”.  Set an intention to begin by self love<3

This choice comes up every time there is a news story about humans taking the lives of other humans.  Are you going to feed unity, cooperation and harmony, or are you going to feed the other forces of destruction anger and hatred?  No matter how we agree or disagree with the choices and actions of another person, we must reach deep down and recognize they too are on their journey to Soul sovereignty.

Every individual is programmed; programmed by upbringing, belief systems, and daily conditioning from various outside influences.  You can choose in any moment to accept your programming as your truth, or to discover the truth of who you are as a soul.  Much of humanity has been programmed to understand the world through judgement and separation;  looking at the ways in which we differ from those around us.  Individuality is a valuable learning experience, however the path to peace, unity, and true freedom is forged by obtaining a balance of individuality and collectiveness.  

Creating new bonds and connections, re-creating unity in your home and community, sending love, healing and forgiveness outward to all and to yourself.  Find time to contemplate,  journal, share with a trusted friend or confidant, sit quietly and  meditate on discovering more of these qualities within yourself.  You are not a victim of other people's choices, you are only a victim of your decision to feel like a victim.

We can rise above tough times and incite change!  We can use our compassionate choice to focus on forgiveness of self and others.  Move beyond focusing on differences and instead be a divine change maker, who leads with compassion.

Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.     ~ Thomas Merton

TRANSFORMATION IS LETTING GO

 An aspect of transformation is Letting Go.  It is a passive force, so its power is in the subtle realm where new form begins to build.  As you Let Go of energy, focus, intentions, information, emotion, words and deeds that do not serve your highest good, you are utilizing the powerful force of nature that transforms.  Because the impact of most of these are  invisible at first, there is often not as much value placed on Letting Go.  

Letting Go is often associated with loss, surrendering to domination, or giving up choice and creative abilities.  However, the broader truth of Letting Go is that it generates a creative space, it frees up a great amount of soul-energy that liberates a level of life you didn’t know existed.  It leads you to your True Self.

We must practice kindness to self in the process of letting go.  To let go of past stories and beliefs that no longer serve us requires courage and discipline.  We are all capable of transforming fear into love.

The religious word for letting go is forgiveness.  Forgiveness is giving up your investment in and identification with your own painful story.  This comes from a deep place of inner freedom and awareness of goodness-- God’s , your own and the goodness of the person you choose to forgive.

“Our whole spiritual transformation brings us to the point where we realize that in our own being, we are enough” --Ram Dass

Sometimes changes can be intense to the point of becoming chaotic.  In physics, chaos is a temporary phase between one natural state of harmony and its transformation to a higher form.  

When we let go of old ideas that keep fear alive and thriving,  that is when the Truth of Love stops hiding behind judgment.  We must open our hearts to release all that blocks our perception  (worry, doubt, fear) of God working miracles in our lives.  We allow others to learn through observation and choice as we maintain a powerful PEACE  that transforms our experience of Life.

In letting go of the shore of stability, we go with the flow of life evolving into more connected and empowered spiritual beings.  It is our creative responsibility to allow change to anchor our powerful love for life.  To love powerfully is to transform,  and this is the spiritual alchemy we all possess!

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12:2

SPIRITUAL BEINGS

Our spirits are as unique as the human forms we embody to navigate this earthly experience we call “Life”.  These temples, our physical bodies, house the God light within which is our spirit, the spark of our creator.

Divine light is flowing into you and this light within you is capable of creating anything.  It is true potential, flexible and malleable.  It is said that “thoughts become things” and this is important to us as humans having a spiritual experience.  The light within us has unlimited potential in accessing a flow with the universe.  There is an interconnectedness in life and the capacity we have through positive unlimited thoughts gives us mastery in living abundant and joy filled lives.  We are clarifying realizations about the way things work and also regarding the nature of consciousness.  Learning to reshape our consciousness to become positive and flexible is a pathway to merging with our Divine Selves.  The light within us that is powerful and has a direct capacity to both deepen our experiences and accelerate our mastery of why we can contribute to this life in a meaningful way.

Jesus said, “the Spirit gives Life”.  We already have what we are seeking yet somehow we become lead by seeking outwardly instead of loving ourselves enough to rely on the tools God prepacked for our journey.  Paul calls “Spirit” our true self.   When I am living from my true self, the fruit in my life is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Gal 5:22-23).  The false self is the person we construct based on all the roles we play, our deeply held beliefs and preferences, hang-ups and also our sense of entitlement. The false self is based on appearance and functions through our need for approval. It  becomes defensive when threatened.  Its reality is conditional, meaning that its worth must be earned.  Paul calls the false self the “flesh.”  He teaches that when we identify with the false self, the fruit in our lives is hatred, discord, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, envy and the like.    

We all need inner experience instead of simple outer belief systems.  How we get to this juncture depends on a participative knowing that begins as an inner discovery.   Our cellular “gps” leads us to this through prayer, love and suffering.  You need inner experience whereby you can know things to be true for yourself instead of believing them because other people say they are true.  Thus, our identity comes from within which frees us to live a happy, joyous and fulfilling life.   

To arrive at this place is not to ask ourselves “what would Jesus do?” or “how would Jesus live?”,  rather to practice a process of self-emptying thereby realizing  that ultimately there is nothing real in us that is less or other than God’s infinite love, which is our spiritual light. The way we treat ourselves, the way we treat others and all living things then becomes holy work.  As we shine our love lights brightly we assist others in shining theirs.  We are free to love and serve one another without attachments or judgement.  Our soul purposes become unified for raising the consciousness of humanity which gives rise to miracles and synchronicities.  The fruit of our pure spirit, that spiritual light within our hearts is LOVE.

“And I will pray to the father and he will give you another helper, that he may ABIDE in you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells WITH you and will be IN you.” John 16-17

BELIEVE TO RECEIVE

We are poised to be absolute creators of our lives.  This is what it means to be free and completely awake.  There is no more of life happening to you, for this is victim energy, there is only creating life based on your conscious choices and free will.  

At times we all experience challenges and they were not created because we wanted difficulty, but rather because we forgot to love ourselves somewhere along the way.  Suppose you have pain in your heart or your body.  Can you choose to be kind to yourself right now, to comfort yourself in a healthy way, to make healthy choices for your body?  Do not fight your own emotions or bodies.  They are the messengers from your soul.  They show you the areas in which you are seeking greater love.

Fear is something created by old beliefs to hold us back in the old and small.  It is not a stopping place when we are truly free.  it is a resting place to review what created it and then freedom offers an opportunity to be more…. to walk through the fear to the other side in Grace.  From an early age, it is ingrained in almost every one of us that we must achieve certain ideals or become “somebody” in order to be worthy of our own acceptance, of our own love.  Existing within this as-soon-as-I-have-this or once-I do-that mentality chains us to the belief that we are not free to live our lives now.  When we are stuck in our beliefs, our reality becomes rigid, stagnant, and oppressive.  We become bound to our attachments because we have lost our ability to recognize that we have a choice to be free of them.    

Let go of the attachment that we must obtain some image of perfection in order to be happy.  This isn’t only about appearances; it includes the way we think, the philosophy we follow, our spiritual pursuits, and our place in society.  All these things are conditions upon which we accept ourselves.  We think that in order to be worthy of our own love we must live up to the expectations we place on ourselves---but these expectations are the expression of our agreements, not of our true nature.  It is easy to blame our media, our culture, or our community for perpetuating images of what is expected of us.  We are flooded with commercials and archetypal images of heroes and heroines, beautiful damsels in distress and professional athletes, examples of ugliness and how not to be.  

But at the very core of it, there is no one to blame, because a commercial like self-judgement has no power over us unless we agree with its message.  It is only when we willingly attach ourselves to these images and distortions that our happiness is compromised.  We do not need to take the blame for these self-judgements.  We can simply become  aware that they have been developing in our lives since childhood.  We have a choice…. That is our power.  Choosing with awareness we can manifest what we want in a myriad of forms and experiences.  As we let go of our reaction to the external, we empower our inner consciousness.  We choose based on our inner knowing.  Once we let go of being controlled and manipulated by outer circumstance, we are truly free to be much more than we ever thought possible.  Aligning with our mind, body and spirit then allows us to take action on our choices.  Each time we marvel at something, we make a choice for Love.  Life truly seems miraculous and magical when we do not have expectations or attachments.  

Choose to love something about life “now.”.  Choose to love something about yourself “now.”  We are powerful because we have the love of the Creator that wants to flow through our loving hearts into our lives. We open to this by choosing the smallest loving thought or the smallest loving choice.  You can always find something to love--a color, a song ,a beautiful photo, a great meal, a piece of art, a video on the internet, a piece of chocolate, the sky…. someone in your past who helped you, someone you hope to be with in the future…..  The face you see in the mirror perhaps?  Yes you.

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

LOVING YOUR WINGS

Spiritual practice supports the development of personal power. Empowered people are not complicated, but people who have grown simpler and choose to live through their heart. Their spiritual fuel is LOVE <3

As sparks of the Divine, we courageously agree to serve on this mission for a wide variety of reasons; but the overarching goal is to recognize our true greatness is in serving one another. The popular definition of the word greatness is a grand illusion.  We think that it requires the accumulation of external things.  That is the illusion, a game that seduces us into a complacency from our real purpose.

We spend our primary focus on external accomplishments. School and higher education serves our brains, but the most important yearnings of our hearts are mostly a secret; private venture not acknowledged by the outside world. We don’t allow ourselves failures or imperfections, the open display of emotion or affection is often controlled. Those who express themselves with deep passion, emotion and creativity, and innovation are special or unique and placed in a category. However all of our deepest desires are to express our truths and be unique, to create from our divine spirits.

When we attune our hearts to the truth of our divinity, we know we have come to co create. Why is it easy to play small? It is safe and comfortable…. Do not sublet your heart and mind to the suppression of shame that another in pain would use to bind you. We must not believe we are not enough, that it is the “others” who will do something, who are special and who know the answers. We know; we have just believed otherwise for far too long. Misery doesn’t love company, for it does not LOVE. It feels safe in the reflection of powerlessness.

Listen to the “still, small voice within” and decide to honor it. To do otherwise will lead to dysfunction, grief and disappointment, disease and sadness. We stop the seduction of the outside world by choosing our internal one; our heart’s light is ignited as our guide. As we let our internal light shine brighter it is contagious to others. We think backwards, that we must change the world by external demonstration first, but it is actually from the inside out…. Then the external world effortlessly realigns to that consciousness. It is a law of quantum physics…. Be the change. The gift of enlightenment, is after exhausting ourselves seeking external authority, we finally realize like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, the power was always within us!  We are original, clear, wise, simple, creative, loving, compassionate beings that already are inherently divine.

To witness a person with Down syndrome stand with a gold medal around their neck, arms raised high to a cheering crowd says they are “Loving their Wings”. In societal standards this is a person who is on the edge and vulnerable, often marginalized because of intellectual disabilities.   

We cannot look at that perfect human being without slipping out of dualistic thinking. This is a profound moment of unitive consciousness! Shadow and light coexist in the same experience. One cannot believe in their own personal power and truth as long as we exclude and undervalue others; whether it is women, people of different sexual orientations, people of religious or ethnic minorities and both visible and invisible impairments.

After a while, even the densest of us may have our eyes opened to something which transcends all superficial distractions of disability and self imposed limits: the unimaginable beauty of every person. The beauty is ours for the seeing if only we wipe our lens, and pay attention.

To love ourselves with compassion and know that we are enough, fuels our spiritual tank. When we empower the truth within to ignite our light, it will reflect back upon us with its radiant splendor.