Release

The call comes from dark memory


Only whispers of time gone by

That direct the curiosity, the reason,

And implore action, wisdom, sincerity

To lift the spirit in a wider circle

Than has before gone out from the mind

For such magic to bring into balance

To hold fast resistance to destruction

Will indeed hold humanity on the brink

Of its own fate, where the majority begins

To open its eyes and see a new reality

Not of fear, not of annihilation, but of love,

Where even the skeptical who cling to doubt

Must give the assent and acknowledge

That the enemy is not our fellow man

But our own hatred, our own insecurity,

And this is from whence evil stems.

But can we let go of these distresses,

Our delight in the ego, demand to be right

Perhaps we will see the Light

In all our fellow beings to exist in harmony.

Change

The statement that you shouldn’t expect different results when you do things the same way is something that helps us on our Life Path. If we are going over the same old ground, we cannot expect different and positive outcomes with the things we do. Change must happen for us to succeed where we have failed in the past.
Change is not always easy. We must look at what we have done in the past and decide with intention to do better, to do differently. It may not be obvious to us at the moment what that change will have to be. We may have to look at any given situation critically, even to ask others for their opinions, but once we have identified what our stumbling block is, we can consciously go forth changing our actions.

We may have to try more than one thing before we find what will work for us. We may have to dig into our own past, identify what has hurt us and what our limitations have been in order to see what we really need to do. We may have to say, “this is the problem,” before we can actually act on making things better. Once we do, it may be easier to see what changes we need to make and easier to actually make them.
May you be richly blessed.

Meaning

“What is the meaning of life?” How often have we heard this is the ultimate question in our pursuit of happiness? Beyond this is the question, “What am I meant to do in my life? What is my life purpose, my goal?”


The problem with these questions is that they point to an illusion, that we are sent here with a mission to accomplish one and only one thing. But the truth is, we are not sent, we are allowed, and this, because we choose to incarnate. We select certain tests, certain life lessons to address during our lifetime, and how we approach these lessons determines what other things may or may not happen in our lives.

The simple answer to these questions is that we are to “…love one another…” as we often hear from the time we are children. That is, in fact, the main goal of all humankind. How we choose to show that love creates a rainbow of possibilities, as everyone has a unique gift or ability, whether that involves telling jokes or anecdotes and making people smile, which is the charm we see in children, or feeding the hungry the world over. Each person will approach this with the special insight and gift they brought into the world.

So, why, when we reach midlife, do we find ourselves suffering from so much angst, because we feel that we have not lived out our obligation to be something special, do something special, and make a small fortune doing it? That is the problem. We think we are meant to make money in accomplishing our life lessons. That is not always the case. In fact, it is rarely the case. We have skills that we can use to get by, to make our living and feed and house and clothe ourselves. Whether these are the same skills that we use to show our love to our fellow humans or not depends on us. Perhaps we are just able to volunteer at a soup kitchen or make quilts for the indigent. We may not make money at it, but we are fulfilling a life lesson in showing our love to humankind.

We do not have to broker world peace or win a Nobel prize in order to fulfill our obligation to love one another. But there it is, in all its simplicity. It is no harder than that. You came into this life, into this world, to love. You bring it into your relationships, your work, your thinking, and you have scored highly in the life lesson department.
May you be richly blessed.

Prejudice Kills

I ask you today to look at your prejudices.  We all have them.  Yes, even if you think you don’t see other groups in a negative light, if you are truly honest with yourself, you will find some out group which will cause negative feelings to burst forward in you.  If they are only those who oppose you or your stand on certain values, they are there, and virtually all people will bear some form of prejudice against them.
Why is prejudice such a bad thing?  Let’s first look at what it does in terms of positive aspects.  First, it creates group cohesiveness.  If those like us hate the proverbial them then we are likely to stick together to protect our interests.  There is safety in numbers. Second, our hatred of others makes us feel better about ourselves.  It strengthens our self-esteem.  Prejudice is a self-rewarding system because of this.
To identify the downside of prejudice, we have to examine some of the groups that are victimized by prejudice.  Particular races are the obvious ones, along with the poor, the disabled, the aged, obese people, gay people, people of a different faith, people who have an odor, people from other nations, shy people, intellectuals, the mentally ill, eccentric people, and people with poor grooming. You get the picture.
If you have a particular characteristic that sets you apart from the crowd in any way, there is likely to be prejudice against you.  And if there is prejudice against you, you are likely to fall victim to limitations, restrictions, additional expenses and any other thing that can be created to accommodate your difference, whatever that may be.  Chances are, you have experienced or will experience the effects of prejudice at sometime in your life.
What is the cure to prejudice?  Sometimes it takes Jane Average having to experience the effects of prejudice before she recognizes that she can be put into an out group as easily as the next person.  When her feelings sting for the first time, it may dawn upon her that she should be less judgmental and more accepting of others.  But the key for all of us is to have compassion for those who are different. 
Compassion, really and truly caring for the welfare of others, no matter what they believe, how they look, what they do or don’t do, whether we agree with them, and so on, will help rid our world of the prejudices that we carry with us.  It is essential for the growth of the human race.
May you be richly blessed.

Retaliation

When life seems to be going all wrong and bad things happen to us, it is easy to say, “Someone is doing things to me. I’ve been cursed.” Then we feel justified in doing bad things to other people in retaliation. The problem is, rarely, if ever, are we correct in our assumptions. Most people are too busy in their lives to care about putting bad mojo into ours. Maybe our feelings of having been cursed stem from wanting so much to matter to someone, that we make ourselves important enough to be the recipient of the time and effort needed to put a hex or curse on us. The problem is, we usually are not so important to that person, either as a friend, or an enemy.




What is the better way to deal with such a situation? First, take a good look at the way you do the business of your life. Do you have an addiction? Do you feel victimized by the behaviour of those close to you? Are you mean-spirited in general? If you answered “yes” to any of these, then your first order of business is to clean house. I don’t mean vacuuming and dusting, rather, cleanse your chakras, get into balance, and accept the responsibility for your own interactions. No one makes you act in a certain way. That’s on you. So the only person who can do anything about it is you. Fix it. Take classes, meditate, go to AA, do something to show that you understand that you are in charge of your own life, not the people who actually might be your friends if you’d let them.
Second, talk to the person/persons who you feel are out to get you. Tell them what you’ve been thinking and why. Be honest. Most people will be forthcoming that you haven’t been hexed or cursed, and that they have been too busy to think about you. By the time the conversation is over, you would have healed a friendship and probably will laugh about what you thought was an imposition.

Third, spend some time deepening your Spirituality. When you meditate and spend time with deity, you have little time yourself to worry about what someone might be doing to you. You feel more successful, more complete, more competent. Give thanks to the Source of All Things and keep the bridges from burning.
By looking at yourself, talking to others, and strengthening the Spiritual bond, you can rid yourself of the negativity that you feel others are sending your way.

May you be richly blessed.

The Higher Calling

I am often asked what an individual’s mission in life is meant to be. This is a well-considered question, but the answer is much simpler than one might think. Our Life Lessons approach us as we come across each individual with whom we have an arrangement to learn lessons and balance karma. These are the difficulties that we experience in life, what the Buddhists call suffering. We can experience these in many ways, and as the human life span becomes longer, the likelihood that we have more time in which to solve these lessons is assured. We may fail the lesson the first time, but if we are diligent, we will have the opportunity to repeat the lesson, perhaps more than once. However, it is equally likely that we will pass the lesson. Then we have the opportunity to go onto something else in a spiritual sense. It is usually this position in which people find themselves confused and at a loss for what they are meant to be doing with their lives, and they can think of nothing but their higher purpose.


In ages past, people would cross over when their lessons had been passed or failed. Today, we continue living. So what is one to do when the life lessons have been done and there is no further agreement on which to work? We are free, at this point, to do something that expresses spirituality and compassion toward our fellow beings. Although it is not financially valued except for the expression of sheer genius in this day and age, Art is a valuable and fulfilling pastime that may help us along our spiritual path. Many of us believe that we are not artistic, but we can relate that when we were young, we enjoyed, and perhaps were talented, in creating beautiful things through Art. Creativity and Art don’t just refer to painting or sculpting, but include singing, the playing of musical instruments, sewing, writing poems or stories (as well as the telling, thereof), and various crafts. Accomplishment in this regard is very satisfying and having the time to create or express something of beauty establishes harmony within the soul.

We may find that our hearts are filled with love and compassion when we enter this phase of life. We are more patient, giving, understanding, and loving. Our lives, indeed, become the expression of Art and Grace. We truly feel the Unity of ourselves with all others and value each person as well as ourselves. We triumph over egoism and realize the worth of all people, all things in nature. This is a lesson in itself, but one in which those who are at the Crossroads of a New Life are likely to find themselves.

It is no longer necessary to die at the end of our Life Lessons. We can move seamlessly forward to a New Life of our choosing whenever we feel the impetus to do so. We will know by the restlessness in our hearts that it is time to reach higher and touch with our spiritual essence, which is Art.

The Purpose of Life

How often have you wondered if there is some purpose behind your life?
Sometimes when we have challenges that we cannot seem to overcome such as  loss of loved ones, financial troubles, self-limitations and so on, we begin to scratch our heads and wonder just what the Universe is thinking and why we have so many stumbling blocks along our path.
 What is happening here is that the ego tells us that no person should have to go through what we are dealing with.  The ego tells us that we are a good person, a worthy person, and indeed, there is truth in that.  Every person on the planet, whether you like him or her or not, is a worthy soul that deserves the best that life offers.  The problem comes from feeling that we are getter less than others, when the ego gets that feeling of entitlement, rather than expecting to have to work for what it gets.  If we resent others whom we perceive having more than what we feel they should have, we are putting blockages all over our Life Path, not to mention, unnecessarily causing grief in our own lives, as well as the lives of others.
 Our purpose in life is to spread the love of the Universe.  We are here to help others, to lighten their burdens, and in so doing, we lighten our own.  But our giving, our caring and sharing must be done unconditionally and without resentment.  If this is a no-brainer, you will readily understand it.  If it doesn’t seem to compute for you, it is because your ego is getting in the way, and you will continue to have blockages along your Life Path.
 Please keep in mind that this goal of unconditional giving and sharing is the purpose for every person on earth.  It has nothing do with how many lives you have lived, what karma you have accumulated or not, or any other such matter you wish to use as an excuse for not believing that this is the truth.  Until you know in your heart that you are meant to spread love to everyone you know, you will not know peace and harmony and you can expect chaos in your life.
May you be richly blessed.