A safe harbor where beliefs are respected and kindness prevails.

What Do You Want To Bloom In Your Life This Spring?

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Fotolia_29701059_Subscription_XXLThe wonderful thing about the changing of the seasons is that it provides opportunities to celebrate different aspects of our lives. Spring is when the light returns, when the weather warms, when we can start to spend more time outside because the days grow longer, when the blossoms burst out of winters barren branches. Life is fresh, young and new.

Most of us have traditions for each season too. For me it is Easter. For my Jewish friends it is Passover. Each religion has its special celebrations. Some of the traditions we repeat every year because they are touchstones to things that made us happy in our childhood. I HAVE to make an Easter basket for my husband every year. I HAVE to color Easter eggs. They are my touchstones to feeling good and there is only one time of year I can do that particular thing.

But this year, I want to start a new tradition. I want to think about and write down what I intend to spring forth for the first time this year for me. I will still do all my old patterns, even though they may not always have the power they once did, but I want to add one new tradition. Here are some things I have been thinking about and I encourage you to make your own list too. A list of possibilities for Spring!

  1. Reach out to make a new friend that has the same hobby or interest that I have.
  2. Plant something I have never grown before.
  3. Pick one activity for just one day that I want to volunteer for, such as working in a soup kitchen.
  4. Plan on a Sunday meal in a restaurant I have never tried, perhaps with a kind of food I have never tried.
  5. Volunteer to walk dogs at the local animal shelter.
  6. Buy or make myself a new piece of jewelry.
  7. Go on a hike at a new location.
  8. Take a Sunday ride to someplace I am curious about.
  9. Go to see a local live performance, of music or theater.
  10. Go wine tasting.
  11. Go to the Lavender fields.
  12. Take a crafting class.
  13. Take a golf lesson.
  14. Take singing lessons.

So now that I have my list, I will pick one of them and plan to do it EVERY year…not just this year. It will be my new Spring Fling! It will be my new touchstone. It might make the other things I ALWAYS do more joyful. I will not pick something because it is “good for me” or because I want to be “good.” I will pick something that stirs a little emotion in me, that “wakes up” part of me that may have been put to sleep by a life experience.

When I entered High School, I LOVED to sing. I wanted to sign up for chorus. But my mother, for a variety of reasons, told me I couldn’t…that if I sang too much when I was young I would get throat cancer. So I stopped singing.

Recently I finally found a church that suites me, after avoiding church all my adult life. They sing there. I sing there. I cry when I sing there! Finally, 50 years later, I have found a touchstone that makes me feel so good that I cry with joy!

This will be an easy habit for you to remember…because NATURE will remind you. The first blossom you see, the first bird making a nest, you will be reminded that there is a “blossom” in you that wants to come forth…drawn out but the light.

Time to find a new blossom for your soul!

Who Do You Listen To?

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Fotolia_29658537_Subscription_XLI read somewhere recently that most of the time that when we think that we are “thinking” we are really just running old tapes…reliving experiences…not really thinking about something new. I thought that was pretty profound information and, when I started to pay attention, I found it to be largely true for me!  So when running those old tapes, who am I listening to? Whoever was around at the time? My parents? My minister? My high school girlfriend? My therapist?

Most likely, it wasn’t ME I was listening to.

This is how we grow up.  We have experiences and then we get feedback from other humans to sort out what to do with our experiences. So we listen to a LOT of other voices in the process of maturing…and…if it is true that we do replay so many ‘past experience’ tapes in our heads, we might still be listening to our 5th grade teacher without even realizing it!

With the world changing as fast as it is, it is important to start tuning into your own higher voice…to start learning HOW to hear your own wisdom instead of the wisdom of other humans who may or may not be any smarter than you…or wiser…just perhaps older?

There are many ways to learn to listen.

  • Meditation is one great way if you can sit and be silent.  Your higher self will send you your own original thoughts, and in time you can learn to hear the difference between your own higher voice and those of other voices from the past.  There are many great teachers to help you learn how to do that.  They say that when the student asks, the teacher will appear.  So that is one option open to you and if you think it might work for you, ask to be directed to the right teacher.
  • Journaling is another way to let your very own thoughts into your conscious mind.  Keep a journal or simple note pad by the bed and when you wake up first thing in the morning, write down your freshest thoughts.  Many people have wonderful original thoughts when they sleep, but if they don’t write them down right away, they can dissolve like the morning mist on the mountain when the sun rises in the sky.
  • My favorite of course is to use some form of divination, like a deck of message cards. When I want some advice from my own personal higher self, I sit calmly, take some deep breaths, center myself, and clearly ask my question.  Then I draw a card and ponder what the answer means to me. In the early days of using the I-Ching, I kept a record of all my questions and all my answers, and what I thought they meant at the time.  Once in a while now I look back at those 40 year old notes and am amazed at how profound the advice was.  At the time I wasn’t sure, but looking back, I am so glad I did that homework.  Now it gives me more faith in my own inner voice, my own higher self.  No one can teach you that.  You just have to put in the time, ask your questions and listen to you answers.

All this assumes that you understand you HAVE a higher self, a soul-voice. The only way to really trust that you do is to make contact and start listening. I can’t convince you, nor should you listen to me about it.  It is something that must be experience to be understood and believed.

It doesn’t matter how old you are or where you are in your life.  There is no time like the present to get started…that is unless your adolescent boyfriend is still in your head telling you that you just aren’t that smart!  Boot him out and get started on your adventure!

You are the only one who can!

Good Vibes Beget Good Vibes!

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fotolia_8044338_Subscription_LToday we are hearing a lot about how our feelings influence what actually happens to us in our daily lives, how it affects experiences we draw to ourselves.  Yet when we are in the middle of something that feels like a fight, it is hard to remember … truly … that this situation that seems awful in the moment is actually an opportunity to shift into the positive, to achieve some personal growth.  We study and read and listen to audio/video lectures about how to do that, yet when it comes to that moment, that moment when you just want to throttle someone, that all that learning can go right out the window. So what is the secret to getting past those honest feelings and get back to some good ones?

Lots of challenging stuff has been going on in my life lately, but I feel that I am finally reaching that “eye of the storm” kind of calmness that draws more good to me, rather than more conflict.

Part of what has helped me stay on track with the good vibes thing is to gather with other people of like mind.  The support is awesome. They won’t let me go to an angry or victim place … so I don’t.  So after just a few weeks of doing this (I found a spiritual center to attend in my town and attend once a week), I feel a true shift has taken place.

In the past, I gravitated towards people who were “sympathetic to my plight” and cried along with me. We all need a shoulder to cry on now and then, but what we REALLY need is to have friends that will talk us through to the positive and not support our pity party.

As a result of the last few weeks of affiliating with uplifting people, yesterday I had a  ‘business meeting’ with а person who just ‘happens’ to know almost ALL the people who I value in my small town.  He contacted me to talk about a work project.  We had NO idea how much we had in common until we started talking. I felt this meeting took place because of my feeling so good lately … putting out the positive vibes.

I have had some business challenges in the last couple of years, but now, in hindsight, I am thankful for the people who challenged me, made me feel like I had a fight on my hands. They gave me the opportunity to dig deep and challenge myself NOT to feel like a victim.  It took me a LONG time to get past it, and I went around telling everyone my sad story all the time. Somehow it was the excuse I was using for my finances being low.  The truth was, it wasn’t that person that caused my financial suffering as much as it was my REPEATING THE STORY OVER AND OVER about what had happened that was keeping success from my door.  Success just isn’t attracted to sad sacks!

So I am grateful to the person that gave me the opportunity to grow out of a seemingly bad situation.  I am grateful for the new friends I have made that support my positive energy and don’t let me talk about my sad story.  I am thankful for my wonderful partner who has supported me through this.  I am thankful that I met a new business associate that looks like he will be a good friend as well!  I am grateful for the opportunity to write these columns to help me talk these experiences out. AND all those feelings of gratitude put me in the best “good vibe” place I can be!

So the lesson here is this. When you are angry “at” someone for something they did “to” you, try to stop yourself from feeling like a victim.  It will just keep you in that bad vibe place and you will have a big emotional bulls eye on you that screams “Go ahead, hurt me!” It certainly is OK to acknowledge the “pain ” but then you must release it or it will own you and do more damage than the event itself.  This is one of the most important lessons you can learn in this life.  I know it is a big stretch to go the next step and thank them…gee, it only took me a couple of years! At least know that it isn’t “what happened to you” that continues to cause the loss or pain, it is the feeling that you allow about “what happened to you” that keeps that same old story coming your way.

I encourage you to seek out a group that will be a positive support place for you. Use your gut to decide if a place or group is good for you or not.  Don’t assume that any religious organization is automatically going to be a supportive place as many organizations are more interested in making sure you follow their rules than they are in making you feel good about yourself. We are each divine beings and it is high time we learn to believe that about ourselves.  Despite what is going on around you, learn to be the “eye of the storm” and everyone around you will benefit from this high energy expansion of yourself!

Now go have some fun, and find some people to have fun with!  The world will be a better place if you do!

Old Words, New Meanings…

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During the 20th century, we had the opportunity to be made fully aware of ALL the different cultures in the world, all the different religions, all the different ways there are to be human. What a rich tapestry we as humans weave!  Because of that global exposure, we now see that each culture has its own definition of certain words…really big words, like GOD, LOVE, FAMILY, HONOR, JUSTICE. But beyond our current education/exposure, we each also carry deep inside our consciousness what those words meant to our specific ancestry.  Those beliefs are so ingrained it us that we most often aren’t even aware of them.

Fotolia_40307467_Subscription_Monthly_MFor some of us, what we believe certain words to mean may be holding us back from a chance to shift away from the beliefs of our ancestors, beliefs that were practical for a completely different time that but no longer serve the modern mind. They are so powerful that we may be avoiding using them or even thinking about them.  It can be frightening because on some level, we believe that if we go “against” those rules of order, we will suffer, we will be punished. So how do we feel “safe” in exploring other possibilities? Many of us don’t think about them at all.  We in the West live in a very materialist world for the most part these days…so it is just easier to avoid thinking about certain things and get on with our daily commute to work or dinner plans.

One of the words that has always befuddled me is LOVE.  We all understand what personal love is…even if we don’t have it at the moment. Parent to child, lover to lover, human to pet dog…you know what I mean.  But so many spiritual teachers use the word today with a broader meaning and I find it confusing.  They talk about it as a “thing” that exists, outside the personal.  That it is a power that connects us all, that it is “All there is.”  Huh?  How can that be the same thing as what I feel for my husband, my niece?  Well, short of coming up with a new and more descriptive word about that “energy that is all that is”, last year I found this description that really solved my quandary, and here it is:

“Love is not a feeling.  Love is a spiritual energy.

Love is pure creative energy at its highest level

Love expressed in human form actualizes your Divine Self.”

                                                 – Barbara King

I love “actualizes your Divine Self.” I hope you find this helpful the next time you hear someone talking about “love” in this context. Or if you can come up with a better word so the two aren’t confused, please let me know!

Another word I have always had trouble with is GOD.  Deep in my thinking, I believe that GOD is an all-powerful being outside myself that can pick and choose who has abundance and joy, and who starves and suffers.  Every culture for as long as we have recorded history believes that their GOD controls their lives and they must be honored or even worshiped in some way for personal self-protection.

Now, in this time, because I see how many different “Gods” are worshiped in how many different ways around the world, I needed a new description.  I needed a description that would bring control of my life back to me…at least a little bit!  So I came up with this:

G.O.D.  Gridwork Of Divinity

If you can imagine a network of energy around the planet…one that glows with life…one that is dynamic, moving, creating. Then imagine that you can “connect” with that grid and feed and receive energy from it. Also visualize that this grid can ONLY carry positive energy in it…nothing negative. Imagine that the energy there is Divine…omnipresent in its beauty and power to protect and manifest.  That is a vision or definition of G.O.D. that makes sense to me…that I can participate with, not be dominated by. I am part of it and it is part of me.

If you have a good relationship with your God, this doesn’t take anything away from that…because deep down it is all the same thing.

From in my twenties, I started using the word “Light” as a synonym for both Love AND God!  You will see it used more and more…and iN a way I believe that it does represent both Love and God. There is light, and there is darkness or absence of light. I believe in the places where there is an absence of light bad things can happen.  I try to flow “light” to every situation I can. Many people are able to “see” energy (light) in living things.  I can’t…wish I could, but I can’t…not yet anyway.  But I can “feel” it in certain people.  I can feel an abundance of light and life or an absence of it, in which case they feel “cold” to me. So is “shedding light” on a situation the same as praying for a good outcome?  I kind of think so.

I hope you find these thoughts about a couple of words that have vexed me for a long time helpful.  I am guessing that if these words bothered me, they might have bothered a few other people too, so I hope you find this useful.

I would love to hear from you.  I feel called to help people connect with their Divine selves so they can make the best decisions in their lives…so that they can be and feel love of the highest order…so they can be their own happiness generators and know that true happiness comes from within, not from an outside source.

Write to me at voiceofyoursoul@gmail.com

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