Head vs Heart

What exists below the surface is way more than above the surface

Head vs Heart

“Fear is the opposite of love, simply because fear contracts and love expands. The only way to be truly open is to silence the mind and open the heart. If humanity is to survive, this is the change that needs to happen!

When the heart is open, there are no fixed ideas, just peace, love, expansion and unlimited possibilities. Choosing to live in terror, fear, lack and limitations always means that you are living in mind, and mind only exists in two places – past and future. It simply cannot exist in the present. This is why every enlightened being agree on one thing – you have to bring your energy to the NOW, this moment, here and now. Why? Because when you are in the present, the mind is silenced and your heart is expanded, and this is the only state where you have the ability to hear your inner guidance and re-connect with the source within.

Living in the future instead of here and now, means living in “ifs,” and in doing so, you are not only limiting yourself, you are also attracting the future that you fear! If you want a positive future for humanity, this is not the way. We have to learn to silence the mind and live in the now before we can become co-creators of a future with a positive outcome.” excerpt from www.akashicsoulreading.com

DH Lawrence, poet & author, wrote on loneliness.

" I never know what people mean when they complain of loneliness. To be alone is one of life's greatest delights, thinking one's own thoughts, doing one's own little jobs, seeing the world beyond and feeling oneself uninterrupted in the rooted connection within the centre of all things."

As I reflect upon Lawrence's words, it occurs to me that he was talking about two different states of energy. The energy of loneliness is felt as a result of feeling isolated. Isolation can be a result of being disconnected from your higher self, your spiritual self which then leads to a disconnect involving other people. I have read that we humans are wired for needing connection. Just like a plant that wilts from lack of water, we humans feel a void when we lack connection.

I can remember times in my past when I felt unbearable loneliness. To feel lonely is a hard place to live. It felt somewhat like a disease, one I would not wish on anyone. Back then I did not have an understanding of what was behind this feeling of loneliness. I did not know it was a symptom of a larger issue.

In my opinion, to feel lonely is what happens as a result of a disconnect from within. We are mind, body, and spirit and all three need attention. When we neglect any part of the trio we are headed for a disconnect. Often of the three, it is our spirit that is starved. We live in such a material world where we look to externals for happiness. We need to return to knowing that we are spiritual beings having a human experience and not the other way around. I honor my spirit by lending an ear to my higher self.

To be alone (to enjoy solitude) is a state in which we allow an energy of connection to occur. I cherish the benefits of solitude. I know how important it is to have a balance of solitude and the company of others. It is often in my solitude I get inspiration. It is in my solitude I sit still and connect with the divine within. Just as I would lend an ear to a friend who needed to be heard, I lend an ear to my higher self during quiet moments when I choose to be still without distraction. To pray is to talk to God and to meditate is to listen. We need to do both.

When we choose to switch from the head to the heart, we expand and raise our vibration so that we see life from another perspective.

I am never lonely now. I choose at times to be alone. With so many distractions in life, I have to go out of my way to create stillness. It is a choice we all make.

If someone were to tell me they felt lonely, I would suggest they find someone or something to be of service to. When you shift the focus off yourself and onto helping another, you are giving yourself a gift. I love being of service and I know the joy that comes from that. We all have a choice to choose joy & gratitude over fear & loneliness. It starts with an intention. 

Living in the Now

Terrarium in a botttle

The following post is taken from my journal “Living in the Now" covering a one month period.

I was 20 y.o. living in Rhode Island in my senior year of college when I wrote this.

Monday, November 25.

I bought a wandering jew plant today. A typical day for me involves meeting new people, finding interesting displays, sales, exhibits, lectures, and films.

Talking to young, old, middle-aged, Black, White, Asian, Jewish, Catholic, males, females, rich and poor. I don't waste a minute. I'm learning things all the time. I love life. Living is a pleasure. Good things happen to me all the time.

Poetry is just one of my interests.

DH Lawrence wrote on loneliness.

" I never know what people mean when they complain of loneliness.

To be alone is one of life's greatest delights, thinking one's own thoughts, doing one's own little jobs, seeing the world beyond and feeling oneself uninterrupted in the rooted connection within the centre of all things."

Tuesday, November 26.

When the light of day first appears, I know it is time to awaken. My body and my mind work together.

To my new and young wandering jew- a long & healthy life. May your branches stem out and flow forever.

Shells seem to brighten my day. I bought a shell necklace and shell bag at a crafts fair yesterday.

My thoughts are pushing through new barriers, what was always there, yet kept from me.

I see the light in my mind's eye. 

Yes, I see oppression in the form of racism and sexism.

USA. Land of opportunity.

DH Lawrence wrote on friendship.

"He said to me: you don't trust me!

I said: Oh yes, I do! I know you won't pick my pocket, I know you'll be very kind to me.

But it was not enough, he looked at me almost with hate.

And I failed entirely to see what he meant.

Since there was no circumstance requiring trust between us.

Tuesday, December 3.

I am going to learn photography with a 35 mm camera. Meanwhile taking mental notes of what I want to photograph. Rhode Island is a good place, so many scenes I want to remember in years to come. When I am long gone and on my way.

I must get a book on terrariums so I can make one to give away.

Words to define me:

detective, romantic, lover of beauty, writer, poet, painter, seeker of knowledge, collector, reader, speaker, contemplator, dreamer,

idealist, artist, creator, dancer, optimist, organizer, planner.

Saturday, December 7.

Spent some time in the morning browsing through the pottery sales. Bought a hanging planter, in aqua, which brings me to colors. I tend toward aquas and light greens. Cool colors. Water, grass.

Would like to learn how to make pottery, jewelry: earrings, bracelets, chokers, and other necklaces; candles in sand, macrame, rugs.

Sunday, December 8.

Accomplished a 9 page paper for Black Literature. That's how I spent most of the day, a sense of accomplishment is a good feeling.

Music is a feeling. Horns, I like horns.

Xylophones, piano.

Wrote a few letters this weekend. Spent Friday night with Chuck.

Tuesday, December 10.

The more I learn & experience, the more I realize how much there is left unlearnt & unexperienced. It's overwhelming. My thoughts want so badly to push through new barriers. It's in connection to what DH Lawrence was after. There's a potential to the mind that's in the darkness, yet I'm striving to get in touch with it. I want to. I feel a need to.

DH Lawrence wrote on non-existence.

“ We don't exist unless we are deeply and sensually in touch with that which can be touched but not known”.

He wrote on belief.

“Forever nameless.

Forever unknown.

Forever unconceived.

Forever unrepresented

yet forever felt in the Soul”.

Monday, December 16.

It's a bit after 7 a.m. As I sit & eat my breakfast my ears bring me the voice of Jackson Browne and my eyes bring me the sight of waves breaking out at sea and the sun making it's grand entrance upon the horizon. The sky is a host of colors and I can watch the changes.

A sight to behold and I experience it every morning.

When I looked out the window my eyes caught sight of a seagull soaring through the air.

Saturday, December 21.

Christmas time is in the air. Packing done. My mind is neatly packed too with thoughts of friends-time spent worthwhile. Joan DelVecchio in Cambridge Friday.

Chuck in Wakefield Saturday, and Gregg in Manhattan Sunday.

Monday, December 23.

I am in Bayside. Home for the holiday.

DH Lawrence wrote on Optimism.

“ The optimist builds himself safe inside a cell and paints the inside walls sky blue and blocks up the door and says he's in heaven”.

Random Thoughts

Renoir's  Still Life : Flowers

I started keeping a journal at the age of 19. Back then we didn't have the technology for blogging. Either we typed or we hand wrote to document life. I chose to write in a blank book and in that choice, I chose to add a bit of my own art. Handwriting is in itself an art form. Now we have hundreds of fonts to choose from when we want to add our artistry. This font is Nanum Brush Script.

It was August of that year when at the age of 26, I entitled my new journal “Random Thoughts”. I gave each new blank book a title. I did not know it at the time but journaling would become a very special part of my life. When we can fill up a blank page with our thoughts, we can capture ourselves in that fleeting moment, much like a photograph does. Then time passes and one day we have a way to view where we were at, what we were thinking, and embrace ourselves for the person we were and who we have become.

I share a piece of that past now from “Random Thoughts”.

It covers one month, the month of August, in my 26^th year of life.

Saturday, August 9 9:34 p.m.

I miss someone I don't even know yet.

Saturday, August 16 7:24 p.m.

Walking up University Place I thought about its been long enough since I've felt the energy for fully living.It's within my power to make a change

Wednesday, August 2o 9:46 a.m.
You have to practice health, to be healthy.
Reading “I'm Dancing AS Fast As I Can” by Barbara Gordon.“We were intimate strangers”.
Today is Mom's birthday.
Thursday august 21 9:42 p.m.

Ten years ago today 42 people were killed by storm “Dorothy” in Martinique.

Finished book by Barbara G. “ Every time you took a valium you opted for deadness, and now you must allow yourself to feel, feel everything- anger,love, sadness”.

GROWTH IS ALWAYS PAINFUL.

“it's not a question of good friends, of bad friends. It's a question of cleaning up your relationships”.

Met a guy on the bus home who works as a copy writer in the Time Life building.

Friday August 22 11:48 p.m.

Went to the outdoor restaurant at the Citicorp building by myself for lunch. Ended up talking to 2 h.s. Students from Brooklyn, interested in journalism & Columbia University. Good day overall.

Signed up for a course in calligraphy.

Saturday August 23 2:35 p.m.

Off to the Guggenheim Museum via Madison Uptown bus. 89^th street & Fifth Ave. Standing in line met a girl named Marilyn, an artist of sorts. Standing in front of a Renoir painting:A Still Life called Flowers. 1885. Began thinking that before me is a work of art that a person took the time to paint, to pay attention to details. That every stroke of his brush represents his effort, to create something out of a blank canvas. As these words written fill up this blank space.

Sunday August 24^th 10:58 p.m.

Every so often I become still. Time moves on but its irrelevant to the moment. to the stillness. And what do I feel in the stillness? Is it a good calming feeling or is it one of pain & loneliness? A void... an unfulfilled sense of being & having a special person. The artist often creates out of this pain. Whatever feeling I may have is nothing others haven't experienced. My pain is not unique to the human condition. Life never remains at a constant. One must cope with whatever plight befalls them. I am not alone in this feeling that there is more to life. I lean on no one.

Monday August 25^th 8:58 p.m.

Found this quote amongst my things. “unless it grows out of yourself, no knowledge is really of value to you, a borrowed plumage never grows.”

Began reading a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford “A Woman of Substance”.

Wednesday August 27 11:35 a.m.

Standing in the middle of the Picasso exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art on this day- inspired this thought.. what amongst your possessions do you most value? Answer: my journals, my photographs, camera, letters &cards from others, all art, things created out of nothing. Art is the ultimate escape.

Met a girl from Toronto & then a woman from Detroit who especially came to NY for the Picasso exhibit.The museum holds a capacity of 10,000. I think today more than that will pass through. Its Member's ONLY day, & Marilyn got me a ticket. From the museum on 53^rd St & Fifth, I walked to The Comic Strip on 81^st & 2^nd. It was a private party promoting a new book called Spare Ribs by 2 ladies, interviewing women in all walks of life.I had a good time. From there I crosstowned by bus to Lincoln Center area. Saw Neal's apartment at 2 Lincoln Square. Ate dinner at The Saloon &then down to Media Sound Recording Studios to see Emily working on her single. I enjoyed that. It was one of those days one is happy to live in New York City. Needless to say- calling in to work sick was a great idea. I needed such a day.

Friday August 29^th

As the end of the month draws close, the end of the summer, the end of long days-been noticing it gets dark around 8 in the evening. Still hot & humid weather though. I like the Fall. It represents change-newness, vitality.

Sunday August 31 3:22 p.m.

Emily called.Said the sun was out-why not go up to the roof... so it was our farewell goodbye to the summer season and the roof til next year.

In closing out this blog post, I just want to say that for me writing has always been cathartic, “ providing psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions; causing catharsis.( Late Latin: kathartikos, & from Greek: katharsis ‘cleansing’   ....and so it goes.

I have posted only the month of August from Random Thoughts. The journal covers 6 months ending in January of my 27^th year. Perhaps more later.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Love to you!

Are you offended?

Smiling sky

The dictionary defines offended as “to be

resentful or annoyed, typically, as a result of a perceived insult”.

I would add to that understanding of “being offended”.

To be offended is to be in your ego versus in your spirit. In an earlier blog post of mine from April 4^th, 2013, entitled  "Spirit versus Ego" I addressed the difference between being in your spirit vs. ego. All drama, which includes being offended by another's comments, occurs when we are in our ego. That is because ego based thoughts are generally fear based. When we shift into spirit, we come from love, which includes understanding, acceptance, compassion, forgiveness, and many other high energy states.

I generally like to write about what comes into my field of awareness. Recently this topic of being offended came in several times, nudging me to take a look at it. For me, as a writer, I go through a process of first observing and then writing it down as a way to make sense of it.

I was at a gathering of lady friends one night. When you put 10 females in a room, add liquor, and a lot of talking going on, there's bound to be a bit of drama. We represented 4 decades of ages..including 20 somethings, 30 somethings, 40 somethings, and 50 somethings.

Maybe an hour into the night, when we gals were all standing around chatting away, one of the gals said very loudly, “shut the f**k up Lynne”. This got everyone's attention & now it was focused on the gal who said it. I was not offended. I know that this gal is a friend of mine. I know that her utterance had very little to do with me. Everyone was chatting away having a good time, me included. I could see how someone in their ego might be offended by this utterance but that night, and at that moment, my spirit was in attendance. 

Could she have gotten everyone's attention a better way? I suppose.  But, I do know, that at the time of this utterance, it was no big deal to me. It could even be viewed as a bit humorous. Who talks to their friends that way, I mean really? It was forgotten by me as quickly as it was said. 

When only 4 of us were left, the host, me and 2 others, one of them brought it up. She delivered her opinion of that utterance directed towards me. Basically she thought I should be offended. After all, she said, it was rude. I know that what she meant was that if it were her on the receiving end of that utterance, she'd be offended. Then the other two chimed in by this time, agreeing with her that this was rude behavior and agreeing I should be offended. They all agreed that they care about me & this was why they were offering their opinion.

I let them know I was not offended. I cannot control other people's behavior. I can however be empowered in my response. I do know that being offended is a waste of my time. I don't think I successfully explained to them that night why I was not in the least offended. In writing this post, I went to my collection of books & found the following:

In Wayne Dyer's book, Ten Secrets for Success & Inner Peace, he has a chapter entitled “There Are No justified Resentments”. “I have a right to be angry, hurt, depressed, sad, or resentful”. This can be heard any day from anyone. “Anytime you're filled with resentment, you're turning the controls of your emotional life over to others to manipulate. When you live at or below ordinary levels of awareness, you spend a great deal of time and energy finding opportunities to be offended. Not being offended is a way of saying, I have control over how I'm going to feel, and I choose to feel peaceful regardless of what I observe going on. When you feel offended, you're practicing judgement”.

(I found out days later that this was a line from a movie called The Big Lebowski, the original line being "Shut the f**K up Donny"). 

Thank you Wayne Dyer.

I recommend checking out his book “Ten Secrets for Success & Inner Peace” if this topic resonated with you.

And once again, many thanks to you the reader, for visiting SpiralHappy. Love & Light!

What is Kindness?

Waves of Kindness.org

What is kindness?

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. Lao Tzu

I was recently having a conversation with a friend when the subject turned to kindness. I asked him what the difference was between LOVE and KINDNESS. “Love is present in all of us, whether we choose to open our hearts or not. Kindness is love expressed”. Jim Reyes, creator of Waves Of Kindness. http://wavesofkindness.org

I would agree. We all are born with a heart and a chakra energy center for that love to come in and go out. It is up to us to allow that energy to flow freely. Sometimes we have an early life experience we do not understand and that heart chakra gets stuck or closed up and the energy cannot flow freely. Our spirit wants to express the love yet sometimes our minds are in control and we do not share our love, and we are not kind. Love expressed, aka kindness, is what we need to give ourselves first. It is after that we can share our love with others and be kind. When we are kind we are raising our own vibration. It is then when we are in a position to attract much greater good into our lives. This makes me think of the old adage, “when we give, we receive”. Anonymous

I am grateful when I witness the kindness from others to those they do not know. When we are kind without any thought of what we get back, we are truly generous.

To be kind to ourselves, and to others, feels good. When we feel good, we can experience joy. Joy comes from Old French joie, based on Latin gaudium, from gaudere ‘rejoice.’

Let us rejoice daily and renew our spirit. Be kind.

I am kind.

I am.

Love, Light, & Kindness!

What is LUCK?

From engineer to artist : LOVE

What is Luck?

“Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves”. Larry King

The dictionary defines luck “as success or failure apparently brought by chance (something by accident or without design) rather than through one's own actions”.

Could it be that good luck is really the manifestation of the presence of God in our life? Could it be that a belief in God's presence in our lives is actually the part in the above definition that correlates to “through one's own actions". I can choose to believe that God has a presence in my life and every so often reminds me of that in not so subtle ways or I can choose to not believe in God's presence and take what happens as mere chance.

Take for example when I was working in live radio broadcasting as an engineer several decades ago. I was at the drinking fountain late one night when an older gentleman stopped to chat with me. He was from the film department. Once I mentioned I worked in Radio he offered up his opinion. Television is where it's at. IT's the future. His film department was being closed down due to advances in technology. The idea of a move was planted in my mind in that conversation. Was that part of God's plan for me?

A short time after, a vacation relief request went out internally to find people who would want to cover those TV broadcast engineering employees on vacation. The job would last just six months. Though I had no direct experience as a TV engineer I knew my radio background could translate into audio engineering in TV. I did come equipped with a First Class FCC Broadcast License credential. Back in those days they were willing to train on their dime. I went for it. Apparently so did a lot of other people too. Many of us were hired to be vacation relief and knew this was a 6 month gig at best. I said Goodbye Radio. Hello Television.

I met the Boss, a woman, and she was one tough bit*h. At least that's how she came across to me. I was scared of her.

I worked hard to be a good engineer. As the time drew nearer to the six months coming to an end, I thought to myself, I like Television. I did not want to go back to Radio. The coffee was better in TV than in Radio but seriously I wanted to stay. It was around this time that it occurred to me that I would approach the Boss and tell her I did not want to go back to Radio. I took the attitude that she's not a mind reader and I should let her know what I wanted. I wondered if anyone else thought to march into her office and declare what I did. I had the sense that no one did. Why state the obvious some might think. Who would want to go back to Radio after being in Television?

It was also around this time that my father owned a women's clothing store in the downtown area of our big city. He loved to chat it up with his customers. One day a woman walked in to his store. She was looking for a new wardrobe at discount prices. He carried designer brands at a lower price than department stores. He asked her where she worked. She answered. My daughter works there, he replies. You don't say, what's her name? He tells her. She replies, I know who she is, she works in my department. I am her boss. As a matter of fact, she just came to see me the other day. So I ask, what are the chances that of all the clothing stores in this huge mega city, she'd walk into my Dad's store?

My father, wanting to be of help, took the opportunity to give her some extra discounts. She appreciated the savings. He thought she was very nice.

When it came time to find out who was being retained past the six months, word got out that due to budgeting, many could not be asked to stay on. There were 20 of us doing the vacation relief. Those who were not retained would go back to their old positions. I found out that only 2 of us would make the cut. I was one of them.

Luck or God's presence (from Latin: praesentia 'being at hand')  in my life?

Was it Hawaii or was it just me?

Hawaii

“Maybe stories are just data with a soul”. Brene Brown

     I was in my early 30s when I had the opportunity to travel to Hawaii for the very first time. The year before I had treated myself to a 2 week vacation in Tahiti. I met a gal on that trip whom I quickly befriended in the sec0nd week. She lived in northern California, I in New York. After the trip we kept in touch through writing letters. When she wrote me that she booked herself into a motel in Maui for 2 weeks I got the brilliant idea that I could ask her if she wanted company. Though she was married she explained her husband did not like going on vacations. That seemed strange to me but I accepted that for the truth. I sent her a check for my half of the cost of the motel for two weeks since she had already paid for it. Did I mention that the trip included a rental car for the two weeks? She would be the designated driver since I had not driven a car in years. Did I mention I lived in Manhattan where you didn't need to have a car? I flew to San Francisco where we met in the airport and together flew on to Hawaii. Once we settled in to our motel that first day, we then drove a mile down the road to an outdoor fruit stand. Before we could buy some fruit for the next day's breakfast, a man came up to us holding a crate of papayas. He handed them to us as he said Aloha! We were taken by surprise. We asked him how much for the fruit. He said, no charge. This is the Aloha spirit welcoming you to Hawaii. It would appear that we were in for a great 2 weeks on this most beautiful island.

     The first week went okay for the most part. It wasn't until the very end of the first week that we started to not get along. I had met a cute guy while waiting for her outside a convenience store. He drove up on his motorcycle. We chatted & he asked for my number when it was time for me to leave. In those days no one had cel phones so I told him where I was staying & he could reach me through switchboard. In the time we chatted outside the store I found out he lived on Maui and had the day off. All I knew was that he had a great tan, long hair in a ponytail, drove a motorcycle and owned a sports car, and seemed to like me.

     It never occurred to me that she was jealous. Within a day or two of my meeting him, she and I fought. She told me I was no longer allowed in the car that I helped pay for. It was okay with me because by now he was picking me up. Once he heard how horrible she was to be around, he offered to show me around Maui. I had the best few days with him and then he needed to drop me off for a few days but promised to be in touch when his work was done. Buses to the beach now became my mode of transportation. She and I would individually return to the motel room at night to sleep. The tension was in the air. We did very little talking.

    On my second to last morning, with the papayas all eaten up, I decided to go to the motel restaurant for breakfast. I had never stepped foot in there until then. I sat down at a table by myself. I noticed a woman looking at me from another table. She was old and very pale. She waved to me to come over. I did and she invited me to join her at her table as she was alone too. I noticed there was a book on the table. We chatted a bit. In conversation she mentioned her room number. At The time I didn't give that piece of information a second thought. I did notice that when I told of my troubles with this gal roommate, she would open the book to a page and read from it. She was the Bible lady, as I don't remember her name. Having been brought up Jewish and not particularly religious, I was not familiar with the Bible or the psalms. I just smiled, ate my breakfast, and said goodbye.

    I then took the bus once again to the beach. I had a lovely day though I thought it strange I never heard from my guy again. It's always strange when you have a great time with someone and then never hear from them. I was tired at the end of my last full day in Maui so I returned to the motel. I put my room key in the lock and opened the door. In front of me was standing a strange guy in his underwear. He was as shocked as I was. I asked him what he was doing in my room. He said it was his room. He had just checked in that afternoon.

     It turned out she checked out a day early and was refunded the cash for the last day. She walked away with my half of that cash.

I needed a shower. Then I remembered the old lady and her room number. I knocked on her door and she answered. I told her what happened and she invited me in. I showered and got my belongings from housekeeping. It was a bit shocking to see my clothes not in the suitcase I came with but in large trash bags. Fortunately my return ticket and my suitcase were all in the bags. I used her room phone to call another friend I had made there in my second week. He came in his car and picked me up and I thanked the Bible lady for her help.

   I knew that I had experienced something special in meeting her, the Bible lady, the way I did. Hawaii was this very magical place where special things happened. I was giving all the credit to the place, Hawaii, not necessarily at the time considering that I could have been anywhere in distress and had the experience. The experience I had was that a higher power, God, was/is looking out for me.

In hindsight, it was like I needed to meet all the people along the way that I met in Maui, including the roommate, to help me realize I am not alone. None of us are. We have a connection to our Source and sometimes we lose sight of that or don't even know it at all. Hawaii was a gift. Though it was fraught with some crazy stuff, I survived the trip.

Update: I never saw the Bible lady again. I did get a postcard nine months after I returned from Hawaii from my guy. He sent me a beautiful picture postcard apologizing for not being able to contact me until now. As he told it, right after he dropped me off & went into the fields to check on his plants, he got arrested for growing marijuana. He was in jail for 9 months. When he got out, he wrote me. We never spoke or saw each other again.

I made another trip to Hawaii some years later. This time I went with someone I knew way better. My sister. We had a great time on the Big island.

I am grateful for all the opportunities I have had to travel and learn about other cultures. Sometimes we travel far just to be nudged to look within.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ― Marcel Proust

What are your gifts?

 combining nature & art to become a candle holder

What are your gifts?

If you ever wonder what your purpose is in this life consider your gifts. Your gifts lead to your purpose. Some people know early on in life what their gifts are. They are the lucky ones. The rest of us go through life trying to figure that one out.

WE are born with gifts. Some of our gifts become more apparent over time and through our interactions. There are so many possible gifts any one of us may have I love to name the ones that come into my mind quickly. Gifts include the gift of listening, the gift of humor, the gift of storytelling, the gift of making music, the gift of movement, the gift of language, the gift of teaching, the gift of asking questions, the gift of optimism, the gift of observation, the gift of independent thinking, the gift of patience, the gift of focus, the gift of leadership, the gift of curiosity, the gift of being open minded, the gift of a green thumb, the gift of design, the gift of service, the gift of art, the gift of connecting the dots, well the list goes on and on as to our gifts. There are those gifts we can only discover with age. The gift of aging gracefully.

Our gifts are our passion and passion leads to purpose. Purpose gives life meaning. If we are blessed to use our gifts as a way to earn a living, wow, there's gratitude.

So when you ask, what am I to be when I grow up?, ask yourself to name your gifts and the answer will come.

Spirit versus Ego

Spend time in Nature

Spirit vs Ego

We “spiritual beings having a human experience” are continually living from either our spirit or our ego at any given time. I would venture to say that when I am coming from spirit, I feel good. I also recognize that when I feel bad, if I check within, I discover I am coming from ego. To elaborate with an example would look like this. I am starting to worry that my partner is wasting time and money on something. That does not feel good to me. That's my clue that I am in the ego. I allow my spirit in at that point & I remember that worry is a waste of energy. I am not in the business of worrying, which is just a projection of a fear, which is an acronym for “False Expectations Appearing Real” (Ernest Chu, Soul Currency). I go back to my original affirmation to center myself once more. I say out loud, “ The Universe & God support me daily & I trust in the direction I am led”. Anytime I feel I am in my ego, I can say this affirmation as a way to connect with my spirit once again. Where'd the worry go? It no longer has a hold on me. Those thoughts, which are not reality, do not take my power away from me. I go back to centering myself to have faith in God that there are lessons to be learned and if something happens, it is meant to happen. Why fight the current?

There is a dance that goes on in our mind and body whereby we can choose to shift away from ego and into spirit. It's a choice we have. Think of Spirit as LOVE and Ego as FEAR. If you are having a bad day, stop and ask who is in control today. Is it ego or spirit?

I like what Deepak Chopra has to say in his book THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS of SUCCESS as it relates to this particular blog post on coming from spirit(love) vs coming from (ego)fear. “The experience of the Self, or “self-referral” means that our internal reference point is our own spirit, and not the objects of our experience. The opposite of self-referral is object-referral. In object-referral we are always influenced by objects outside the Self, which includes situations, circumstances, people, and things. In object-referral we are constantly seeking the approval of others. Our thinking and our behavior are always in anticipation of a response. It is therefore fear-based. In object-referral we also feel an intense need to control things. We feel an intense need for external power. The need for approval, the need to control things, and the need for external power are needs that are based on fear. This kind of power is not the power of the Self , or real power. When we experience the power of the Self, there is an absence of fear, there is no compulsion to control, and no struggle for approval or external power.

In object-referral, your internal reference point is your ego. The ego, however, is not who you really are. The ego is your self image, it is your social mask, it is the role you are playing. Your social mask thrives on approval. It wants to control, and it is sustained by power, because it lives in fear.

Your true Self, which is your spirit, your soul, is completely free of those things. It is immune to criticism, it is not afraid of any challenge, And it feels beneath no one. And yet, it humbles and feels superior to no one, because it recognizes that everyone else is the same Self, the same spirit in different disguises. “

To paraphrase, with self-referral, self empowerment follows. With self empowerment, you magnetize people, situations, and circumstances to support your desires. Law of Attraction is another way to express this.

It is also the Law of Synchronicity. Meaningful coincidences show up in our lives when we come from spirit. I am grateful each day for the gift of awareness to know spirit from ego.

What about religion?

A family of turtles

What about Religion?

Our parent's religion most often determines our first exposure to a given religion. There are those who would say we choose our parents before we incarnate into this material plane.

It is interesting to me that many people accept the religion of their parents as their own without question. As children there is much we do not know yet about the world's history. I can only imagine that most parents assume their children will embrace the same religion they follow. Perhaps a few out there say to their kids, ..”research all the religions of the world, and pick the one that resonates with you the most”. Ha, wouldn't that be special. I did not have that said to me growing up. I am also not a parent so I cannot tell you I did that. But it would seem to me a very courageous thing to say to one's kids.

The poet Kahlil Gibran has written this about children, “you can house their bodies, but not their souls”.

“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”

Gibran's best-known work is The Prophet, a book composed of twenty-six poetic essays. Its popularity grew markedly during the 1960s with the American counterculture and then with the flowering of the New Age movements. It has remained popular with these and with the wider population to this day. Since it was first published in 1923, The Prophet has never been out of print. Having been translated into more than forty languages, it was one of the bestselling books of the twentieth century in the United States.

I was born into a Jewish family. I know for me that something did not feel right when I was exposed to religion in my own home. One of my darkest memories was an exposure to the separation of people. You are not of my faith became a type of unspoken declaration in the home where I grew up. Where was the love for all fellow human beings? I knew something didn't feel right to me when I went to public school with kids of all denominations, and yet there was an unspoken rule you did not invite them to your house. Did my father have any friends that were of different religions? Not that I could see. So I suppose as kids we choose to do one of two things. Embrace our parent's view of friendship which for me meant excluding people from my life or rejecting that closed minded view and embracing people on their own merit, not using their different religion as a reason for rejection.

As a result of my awareness that organized religion, as far as I could see, separated people from one another, I rejected religion altogether. The hypocrisy of it was glaring. Is there a religion on this planet that is not organized?

I learned from Wayne Dyer that often some of the most influential people in our lives are the last we would think of initially. He never met his biological father while the man was alive. It was not until after he was dead and buried in a pauper's grave did Wayne “meet” his father. He always knew that his dad abandoned the family days after Wayne's birth. So years later, how is it possible that Wayne Dyer named this man, his father, the most influential person in his life. His answer was simple. As he explains it, Wayne learned one of the greatest lessons on earth. He learned how to be self reliant, self sufficient as a result of his dad's abandonment of the family. It was not until I read this story in one of Wayne Dyer's books that I too could name my dad as the most influential person in my life. Often its the most challenging relationship we have that causes us to go down a certain path for our own growth.

In hindsight I would say that as a result of my disappointment over organized religion I began a quest for more spiritual exposure. I have always loved reading books and this was one way I could learn about the “metaphysical world”. It got me thinking early on, what if reincarnation does exist? How do I explain all those meaningful coincidences, aka synchronicity, I felt over the course of my life. Curiosity has served me well over the years.

Back in the late '90s I had a horoscope done by a lady who specialized in Past LIVES. Years earlier I had my birth chart done. For those who don't know, this is a chart of the sky, based on the relative positions of the stars and planets at the time of that person's birth. The word horoscope comes from the greek word horoskopos, hora for “time” and skopos for “observer”.

In the introduction of the past lives report I was handed, it said, ...”for many people, the idea that we have lived before (and will again) makes sense”. It is one possible explanation for deja vu (this feels familiar). The report goes on to explain that (1) an examination of Saturn and the Moon's Nodes (considered “karmic” factors by most astrologers) in regard to major life lessons & ingrained psychological patterns (2) an explanation of enduring issues signified by stellia and other repeated themes in the chart (3) a discussion of planets in and ruling the 4t, 8^th, and 12^th houses of the zodiac (considered keys to one's past lives) (4) a look at potential karmic debts and gifts signified by aspects, intercepted, and retrograde planets (5) a discussion of likely past life relationships to current people in our lives (Moon for mother, Sun for father, etc).

The report I received is 13 pages long. I cannot possibly share all that it contains. I will say that as I have re-read it over the years a lot of it resonates with me. One in particular I will include.

It's from a section called Karmic Gifts.

“With Uranus in Cancer (retrograde), you and some of your peers were active in times when attitudes toward family were shifting. When one set of roles was melting away, you helped to provide something new to take its place. Your ability to take a broad view of family helped you and your peers to transform definitions of domestic units. Your expanded transpersonal perspective will be particularly valuable in our swiftly changing world. Your past experiences increased your ability to see family within a humanitarian perspective. You incarnated to help people learn that the Earth is one family; that our interconnections are much more vital than our differences.”

If any discussion of past lives, religion, spirituality, and synchronicity resonates with you, I invite your comments.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

The Importance of “Love of Self”!!

RED SUNSET

This post is dedicated to my sister and all the sisters around the world.

I recently received a book from a good friend and author Marla Martenson. The book is entitled ADVENTURES IN MANIFESTING* LOVE AND ONENESS. She is one of 32 authors that contributed a chapter to this book. I am grateful to Marla for the gift of friendship as well as introducing me to some very interesting books out there. This is one of them.

There is a chapter by a wonderfully articulate writer by the name of Sherrie Rose.

I find myself wanting to share her take on SELF-LOVE.

In my opinion it is a topic of discussion that can benefit more individuals than any of us realize.

What is self love or love of self ?

“ Love of self is a dynamic expression. The emotional attributes of love of self are expressed in these ways: kindness, benevolence, discipline, awe, beauty, harmony, compassion, endurance, ambition, humility, and self leadership.” You can add some of your own attributes to Sherrie's list.

Self love is an energetic force that we can express in our daily living. I know I am drawn to those individuals who express their self love daily. I know from reading other books related to spirituality that there are high energy states of existence as well as low energy states. When we express our love of self we are in a high energy state. To be in a high energy state means we are vibrating at a faster rate. The higher the frequency, the closer we are to spiritual energy. This translates into our feeling lighter rather than heavier. In the lower frequencies, we find shortages and problems. When we are in a higher energy state, we attract that which we desire. We are able to connect to the power of intention, which is a unified field of energy that intends everything into existence. Everything in the universe has intent built into it. Every aspect of nature has intention built into it. The caterpillar becomes a butterfly through this powerful energy. We are, as living beings, a part of nature too.

“Having a belief system that denies your connection to intention is the only way you're unable to access the power of intention from the infinite field”. Lacking self love you can be “convinced you're unworthy of enjoying the field of all possibilities, then you radiate this kind of low energy. This will, in fact, become your attracted energy pattern, and you'll send messages to the universe that you're unworthy of receiving the unlimited abundance of the originating Spirit. Soon you'll act on this inner conviction of self-disrespect. You'll regard yourself as separate from the possibility of receiving the loving support of the originating field of intention, and you'll stop the flow of that energy into your life. Why? All because you see yourself as unworthy. This disrespect alone is sufficient to impede the arrival of your intentions into your life”.(Wayne Dyer:Power of Intention)

Dr. Andrew Weil, known for Integrative Medicine techniques, explains that in Evolutionary Psychology (the combination of two sciences -- evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology), it is a theory that we are programmed to experience some depression in our lives as it motivates a state of inward focus necessary for our own growth. In my opinion I do believe this. From my own experience, I felt some depression in my 20s. I kept a journal and documented my thoughts when I felt alone and disconnected from everyone and everything. For me it was a time of introspection.

In concluding, I would like to say that the topic of self love is one worthy of research by all of us. It is not taught in schools yet each of us faces our own expression of self love or the lack of it as we grow in years. If we do our self directed homework on this topic we can overcome much of the self inflicted suffering we experience. Joy from within is our birthright. 

A Cautionary Tale

Hi Connie:

Well, there's good news and bad news regarding my favorite blue clogs.

I brought them to your shoe repair guy yesterday. I needed the small heels done and not the entire sole.

He said $8, including glueing the inner soles down. And I could pick them up today. 

Wow, I thought.

Marty came with me to pick them up. In the store the lighting isn't so great, apparently.

I put them on to wear out the store, putting my other shoes in the bag. 

We made a few stops before I was out on the street in natural light.

Then I looked down at my feet to admire my favorite blue clogs.

They weren't blue anymore. 

In the sunlight, I could see he shined them with black polish. I stopped in my tracks. 

Marty couldn't completely understand why I would be upset. 

After all, he thought, they were shiny, as opposed to being slightly scuffed blue.

"I don't get it, so they're black now". 

I had to tell him. 

I went online to find blue clogs last week. They hardly make them in blue anymore.
I wear them with my blue jeans. I already had 2 pairs of black.

I couldn't find blue at the local shoe store down the street either. 
It was at that point that I decided to just get the heels replaced.

I told Marty I was unhappy with his lack of consolation regarding my awareness that my clogs were now black.  He said, why not just get blue polish and do them over yourself. I said no. I was happy with the shade of blue they came in and buying a blue polish would not guarantee the right shade.

Why did this repair guy polish them black?

Was it because the lighting in the store is bad and he thought they were black or is it because he doesn't have blue polish? We never even discussed polishing them. 

I suppose at this point I must exercise acceptance. 
The universe wants me to have yet another pair of black clogs.

Anyway, we can laugh about this. I need to let it go.

This is just a cautionary tale. 

Check for good lighting in stores. 

How is your day?

xoL