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Thursday, July 31, 2008
Topiary
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Wednesday's Cat
My new cat Andrew can be bribed. Fred, the old guy, could not be.
Andrew, yes...he will trade affection for treats. And now it's a habit. When he detects my car approaching home - Andrew immediately becomes an out-of-control squirming creature rolling around the driveway purring and drooling in anticipation of the tasty treat with the moist inside that he knows will appear out of the bag tucked away out of his reach in the cupboard.
Spiritual Practice is like that for me. I can be bribed, and if that's what it takes at first to get me into the routine, its fine. My tasty treats range between favorite music, favorite snack, favorite chair - and now I purr too in anticipation of what I know now will appear out of the place tucked away out of the reach of my ordinary awake-state.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Admiration
I try to identify the qualities of the people I admire
And I’ve made it my assignment to try to take on the qualities
That I admire the most in other people.
And I am noticing how much my growth
Is appreciated by the people around me.
In a way, it makes it easier for them to love me
And for me to love them.
Who is “them”?
Well, the entire world.
And as I open my gaze to take in the world
It becomes really big
And for some people – a little overwhelming.
Especially when you begin to notice just how much need there is
Just how much suffering there is
Just how many problems there are
Just how disasterous the absence of global human rights is.
And sometimes what good people do
Is sink into a kind of personal focus, an isolation
As a way of not being overwhelmed…
And deal only with personal needs… or worse
Stop noticing there is a world out there.
But if you court love in your life –
it wont leave you alone until you open up and expand
and walk right up to the things you think you cant handle.
Continue Reading...
And I’ve made it my assignment to try to take on the qualities
That I admire the most in other people.
And I am noticing how much my growth
Is appreciated by the people around me.
In a way, it makes it easier for them to love me
And for me to love them.
Who is “them”?
Well, the entire world.
And as I open my gaze to take in the world
It becomes really big
And for some people – a little overwhelming.
Especially when you begin to notice just how much need there is
Just how much suffering there is
Just how many problems there are
Just how disasterous the absence of global human rights is.
And sometimes what good people do
Is sink into a kind of personal focus, an isolation
As a way of not being overwhelmed…
And deal only with personal needs… or worse
Stop noticing there is a world out there.
But if you court love in your life –
it wont leave you alone until you open up and expand
and walk right up to the things you think you cant handle.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
You Can
Everyday we can decide to do something to activate self love
Actually, our whole life is one endless series of decisions and choices
And I think that as I have become aware that… I really do have choices to make
It’s helped me tremendously
to be more responsible for my decisions and choices.
And that by itself is a powerful way to activate love for others
By becoming more responsible
By giving your attention to the choices and decisions
That bring out more of your natural goodness
There really is a way to love the world:
Become a better human being.
Become a beneficial presence in your family and community
Continue Reading...
Actually, our whole life is one endless series of decisions and choices
And I think that as I have become aware that… I really do have choices to make
It’s helped me tremendously
to be more responsible for my decisions and choices.
And that by itself is a powerful way to activate love for others
By becoming more responsible
By giving your attention to the choices and decisions
That bring out more of your natural goodness
There really is a way to love the world:
Become a better human being.
Become a beneficial presence in your family and community
Friday, July 25, 2008
Review
Some points about Self-Love
The most important being that it is an inside affair
In other words it is, in my opinion,
something that grows as a result of your
Choices and actions and decisions about yourself
Although people can help and contribute,
you and I have to give it to ourselves.
The shift is internal
It has to do with
The way you think about yourself
The way you treat yourself
And also the way you talk about yourself, (to others, and to yourself.)
And you may have noticed that your actions and words
Set the stage for how others treat you.
I have a friend from a long time ago –
and he has me stuck in the time when he first met me.
So when he gives me a gift, he gives me something
that fits the way I trained him to think about me.
I noticed he gives better quality gifts to other friends.
Not because he loves me less, but because I trained him....
With my action and words...
To see me as someone who thinks less of himself.
Ha! Life is wonderful.
I enjoy his gifts as double gifts now.
I love that he cares about me
I love that I care about myself
I love that I can laugh at how things used to be for me in the world.
Continue Reading...
The most important being that it is an inside affair
In other words it is, in my opinion,
something that grows as a result of your
Choices and actions and decisions about yourself
Although people can help and contribute,
you and I have to give it to ourselves.
The shift is internal
It has to do with
The way you think about yourself
The way you treat yourself
And also the way you talk about yourself, (to others, and to yourself.)
And you may have noticed that your actions and words
Set the stage for how others treat you.
I have a friend from a long time ago –
and he has me stuck in the time when he first met me.
So when he gives me a gift, he gives me something
that fits the way I trained him to think about me.
I noticed he gives better quality gifts to other friends.
Not because he loves me less, but because I trained him....
With my action and words...
To see me as someone who thinks less of himself.
Ha! Life is wonderful.
I enjoy his gifts as double gifts now.
I love that he cares about me
I love that I care about myself
I love that I can laugh at how things used to be for me in the world.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Love Bug
St. Francis of Assis’s famous prayer has inspired me
and countless others
With its lines = “It is in giving that we receive…
It is in loving that we are loved…”
Is a beautiful and TRUE that
When we give our attention
Our hearts
Our time
Just the act alone of giving is such a blessing.
(Especially if we’re conscious enough to give without control
To love without expecting anything other than the joy of loving)
And still - it’s only HALF..
It’s In the “receiving” portion that we finish off the equation
That makes up our divine nature…which is Wholeness
A large part of your gig as a being is (in my opinion)…
- to RECEIVE LOVE…not demand it… receive it
- like letting the beauty of nature be lavished upon you
- to experience that as being cherished…
Now that’s tough enough for some of us in human relationships.
Difficult for some of us to even receive a compliment.
So this assignment from this week is going to be
Is to practice with Life rather than with people.
You are to start thinking of yourself as
“the beloved of God.”
Beloved of God
And if you are not comfortable with the term God
Think of it as being the Sweetheart of the Universe
Either way Imagine that…
If it were really so….you, the love-bug of creation…
Why, you’d be sitting pretty.
And with that kind of love coming your way…
You’d give no thought to the love from ordinary sources..
... because when you’ve had the best,
…there is no substitute or comparison.
So the idea is to relax into life – and feel it!
Continue Reading...
and countless others
With its lines = “It is in giving that we receive…
It is in loving that we are loved…”
Is a beautiful and TRUE that
When we give our attention
Our hearts
Our time
Just the act alone of giving is such a blessing.
(Especially if we’re conscious enough to give without control
To love without expecting anything other than the joy of loving)
And still - it’s only HALF..
It’s In the “receiving” portion that we finish off the equation
That makes up our divine nature…which is Wholeness
A large part of your gig as a being is (in my opinion)…
- to RECEIVE LOVE…not demand it… receive it
- like letting the beauty of nature be lavished upon you
- to experience that as being cherished…
Now that’s tough enough for some of us in human relationships.
Difficult for some of us to even receive a compliment.
So this assignment from this week is going to be
Is to practice with Life rather than with people.
You are to start thinking of yourself as
“the beloved of God.”
Beloved of God
And if you are not comfortable with the term God
Think of it as being the Sweetheart of the Universe
Either way Imagine that…
If it were really so….you, the love-bug of creation…
Why, you’d be sitting pretty.
And with that kind of love coming your way…
You’d give no thought to the love from ordinary sources..
... because when you’ve had the best,
…there is no substitute or comparison.
So the idea is to relax into life – and feel it!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
GET FIT
Me and My Workout Partner!
At ISPACE gym, with our trainer, Rich Anderson taking the pic.
Not posed at all!
J
Myrtle Filmore on Prayer
Prayers aren't sent out at all! Sometimes that is our trouble. Where would we send our prayers? We should direct them to our minds and hearts and affairs. We commune with God-Mind within our own consciousness. Prayer is an exercise to change our thought habits and our living habits, that we may set up a new and better activity, in accord with the divine law rather than with the suggestions we have received from various sources.
Myrtle Filmore
Continue Reading...
Myrtle Filmore
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Prayer
It is not enough to pray. Prayer is one step that you take, but you need other steps. You need to think of God, the all-powerful Healer, as being already within you, in every part of your mind, heart, and body. To keep one's attention and prayers in the spiritual realm of mind, without letting them work out into the soul's expression and into the actual physical doing of that which corresponds with what the mind and heart has thought and spoken and prayed, is to court trouble.
Myrtle Fillmore
Continue Reading...
Myrtle Fillmore
Monday, July 21, 2008
Prayer Revisited
• I will give thanks to my Inner life for all It’s marvelous wonders, and for all its wonderful works.
SOM pp. 526
• Prayer is friendship with God. Friendship is not merely generalized in mood: every event is its occasion.
George Arthur Buttrick
“Prayer is to be simple, direct and receiving”. Prayer is to consciously enter into communion with the Divine in an inner language which is sincere, to the point and completely devoid of any desire to persuade, impress or control.
Spirit within knows us completely. Spirit within is unmoved by beautiful words which do not carry the weight of our conviction. Spirit within responds immediately when the words of our mouth reflect the truth of our being.
Why would we expect our prayers to bring forth joy, unless we entered into prayer with joy. Why would we expect our prayers to bring forth harmony, peace and power, unless we entered into prayer with harmony, peace and power.
At the center of successful prayer is a quiet sense of gratitude for the magnificence of life. Try it for one day. Simply say an inner thank you to everything and everyone. Let this be your prayer for just one day.
Today I let my thoughts be simple, direct and receiving. I express my relationship to Life in my innermost thought and I allow myself to remain open throughout this day to Spirit’s loving embrace. I affirm frequently that Spirit within me knows the way. I give thanks for my life and all that is in it.
Continue Reading...
SOM pp. 526
• Prayer is friendship with God. Friendship is not merely generalized in mood: every event is its occasion.
George Arthur Buttrick
“Prayer is to be simple, direct and receiving”. Prayer is to consciously enter into communion with the Divine in an inner language which is sincere, to the point and completely devoid of any desire to persuade, impress or control.
Spirit within knows us completely. Spirit within is unmoved by beautiful words which do not carry the weight of our conviction. Spirit within responds immediately when the words of our mouth reflect the truth of our being.
Why would we expect our prayers to bring forth joy, unless we entered into prayer with joy. Why would we expect our prayers to bring forth harmony, peace and power, unless we entered into prayer with harmony, peace and power.
At the center of successful prayer is a quiet sense of gratitude for the magnificence of life. Try it for one day. Simply say an inner thank you to everything and everyone. Let this be your prayer for just one day.
Today I let my thoughts be simple, direct and receiving. I express my relationship to Life in my innermost thought and I allow myself to remain open throughout this day to Spirit’s loving embrace. I affirm frequently that Spirit within me knows the way. I give thanks for my life and all that is in it.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Stephen R. Covey on Wisdom
Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other.
It embraces judgment, discernment, comprehension. It is a gestalt or oneness, an integrated wholness.
Continue Reading...
It embraces judgment, discernment, comprehension. It is a gestalt or oneness, an integrated wholness.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Kahlil Gibrran on Love
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
Continue Reading...
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Sun
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A friend sent me this photo of a man holding the sun - I love looking at it. It reminds me of when I was a child sitting in the kitchen while my grandmother watched over me and I watched over the specks of dust I could find floating down in sun beams. I would imagine that each was a planet with whole worlds of activity going on in them and that somewhere on a speck of dust was a little boy just like me watching worlds within worlds floating by.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
RIght Now
"This very moment is the only moment yo have. To be fully present here and now requires conscious effort and atention. It means letting go of your plans for the future and forgetting the past. Very few people live that consciously. You can be one of them.
With practice, you can train yourself to be more present in the now moment. Centering your attention requires focus and discipline. But it is the greatest gift ou can give to yourself. Being present where you are righ now allows you to make better choices and decisions. When you are awake and present, you ae turly alive!
Practice being present. When you're with a friend or loved one, give them your full attention. Listen when they speak. Don't mult-task or plan what to say in response. Just listen."
Spirit is Calling.
Continue Reading...
With practice, you can train yourself to be more present in the now moment. Centering your attention requires focus and discipline. But it is the greatest gift ou can give to yourself. Being present where you are righ now allows you to make better choices and decisions. When you are awake and present, you ae turly alive!
Practice being present. When you're with a friend or loved one, give them your full attention. Listen when they speak. Don't mult-task or plan what to say in response. Just listen."
Spirit is Calling.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Multitudes
"Now as you have turned against the marching multitudes, when you awake each day in renewed confidence you will find that you will not forget so quickly. You will not be snuffed out nor blanketed nor turned to salt by events, disappointments, turmoil, news. No! You will find that this is a principle which quiets the spirit, relaxes the step, enlarges the heart and everywhere brings tidings of great joy."
Continue Reading...
Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood, Mary Strong
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Seattle
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Single Words
An interior man will make more impressions on hearts by a single word animated by the spirit of God, than another by a whole discourse which has cost him much labor and in which he has exhausted all his power of reasoning
Louis Lallement - 1587-1635
Continue Reading...
Louis Lallement - 1587-1635
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Forgiveness - a state of mind
Catherine Ponder is said to have written "The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic poster for attracting good. No good thing can be withheld from the forgiving state of mind."
Continue Reading...
Monday, July 7, 2008
These Times
"In these times you cannot afford to meet the shock of life with emotion; you cannot hate, you cannot fear. The evil that you see has always been here; the ignorance is not for you to judge nor can you respond to it even in the sense of so called righteous indignation. We have tried to teach you that you must defend yourselves with the knowledge you have received from this way of life so that you will not be dragged down into an emotional maelstrom of dark imaginings."
Continue Reading...
Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood, Mary Strong
Sunday, July 6, 2008
For Allan
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"This wonderful book guides any individual to understand Science of Mind with ease and grace. It is a simple and beautiful presentation of the Spiritual Principles Science of Mind teaches. I highly recommend this book to students, licensed Practitioners and ministers. Blessings to Rev Edward." ~ Johan Gonzalez RScP. Science of Mind and Spirit for Beginners: Four Chapters in Simplified Prose, paraphrased by Edward VIljoen
Practice The Presence Journal
Journaling offers a powerful way to record your spiritual growth. Writing in a journal calls on you to be more conscious of the insights that occur daily in your life. It gives you an opportunity to examine your beliefs and be mindful of your choices.
Seeing Good At Work
I have been through the book three times over three years, and am starting it again. This is not because the material in the book is not working, but because it is working so well! The weekly lessons keep me on track and focused on what is actually true and important, and help me experience more good in every area of my life. LS