Going Commando with Kindness!

I had no idea it existed before today, but apparently it’s Random Acts of Kindness Day.

I think that it’s awesome that it’s so popular to just practice general love and goodwill that there’s a day for it!

It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by life that we feel we don’t really have much to offer, at least, I’ve struggled with that myself. It’s easy to look at ourselves and feel we fall short, or look at the world and feel overwhelmed at the scope of it’s problems and feel like there’s no way we could ever make a difference, but both of these feelings, while understandable, couldn’t be further from the truth.

We matter, and we can and do make a difference all the time. While it’d be great to be able to do big things for others like pay off their heating and electricity bills and the like, even a genuine smile can make a big difference to someone.

And while we’re talking about showing love and goodwill, let’s remember to start at home with ourselves. Too often it’s easier for us to give than receive.  So cut yourself a break today! Treat yourself good, by thinking kindly of yourself and not cutting yourself down for not being perfect. Feed yourself well,  nourish your spirit with some laughter or a breath of fresh air or a prayer. Tell yourself you’re ok, and mean it. God is within us, and we can’t love God and hate ourselves. Remember, the car that goes the distance starts with a tune up and a full tank of gas!

Here are some easy random kindnesses you can practice today and any day!:

1. If you are an Aldi’s shopper like me, you keep your quarter in your car for your cart. Start keeping a few extra so you can leave your quarter in for that person who forgot theirs! Also if you have extra paper or plastic bags, offer them to those who don’t have any.
2. Wipe up the water around the sink in a public bathroom!
3. And another public bathroom one–flush the nasty toilet! You know the one, someone has had a terrible gastric emergency and for some reason, has not flushed.  As long as it’s not clogged, go ahead and steel yourself and flush the darn thing!   You can use all the hand sanitizer you need afterward, and those other ladies hopping on one foot waiting for the one or two working stalls will silently thank you.
4. Leave a bigger tip than necessary , especially if the service wasn’t great. Sometimes a day ( or year!)  just sucks, and getting a big break undeserved can soften even the grumpiest or troubled of  hearts.
5. Shovel a neighbor’s walkway/scrape an extra car.
6. Take some yummy leftovers to a neighbor so they don’t go to waste. A neighbor and I do this for each other and it’s awesome! We’ve had all sorts of wonderful surprise treats, lunches and dinners that we do appreciate!
7. If someone’s on your mind, call them and tell them you’re thinking of them!
8. When you see someone with a feature or clothing you admire,  tell them! An honest compliment from a stranger can make your day!
9. If you get good service somewhere, make the time to call or tell the manager and thank them! It’s such a pick me up to know people appreciate your hard work!
10. Return those overdue library books/movies! I have two blush-worthily late dvds from our library that I am returning today!
11. Tell a parent they are doing a good job when you see a kid doing good. And tell the kid, too! A  lady came up to us to compliment us on our 9 year old’s manners the other day and it really meant a lot to us–and when we told him he was so proud!
12. Thank someone with a thankless job, like you or your kid’s bus driver, the garbage man, janitors, the lunch room monitors and lunch ladies at your kids school, construction workers ( you can give them a little wave!) etc.
13. Smile at people, and mean it.
14. Look for people you might normally be dismissive of, and open your heart to them.  I think most of us  without realizing it know there are some people that just make us uncomfortable, maybe they are dressed very shabbily, or are acting a little strangely to our thinking, etc, and we close ourselves off. Challenge yourself to shift that attitude. Even if you are just holding the door for them, or smiling, you’re showing them good will and an open heart, and that’s a great thing.
15. Forgive someone who’s wronged you. You don’t have to have a complete spiritual overhaul to start the process of forgiveness. Just saying it to yourself  is a start; where our thinking goes, our heart  follows.
16. Slip someone a note that they are loved. You can tuck it in a purse, under a door, in a coat pocket, etc.
17. If you see someone’s trashcan has been blown over by the wind into the street or sidewalk, pull over ( safely) and bring it back to the yard.
18. Pray for a stranger. There are many sites where people post prayer requests.

Love depends on us to put it into action, but the amazing thing is  that since Love is the most powerful force in the universe,  the smallest action taken towards it often snowballs into something awesome that can touch an amazing amount of people. All it takes is an one act of kindness or humility to change someone’s day, and when they are affected, they spread the  love to everyone they encounter, and so on. You never know when one gesture of kindness might make all the difference.

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Hebrews 13:2

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. “
Maya Angelou

Be kind to unkind people – they need it most!
Ashleigh Brilliant

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.
The Buddha

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Leo Buscaglia

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.
Charles Dickens

Trust

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For many of us, the new year starts with  regret. We look on where we’ve been, what we’ve gained or lost, what we have and what we want, and  often, come up short.  We review what we do and vow to do differently.  Our truth, and especially what we aren’t living of it,  leads us to conclude certain things about who we are, what we need, and what we lack.  So once again, many of us find ourselves starting off a new year holding up ideals that will make us happy. You know, because it’s worked so well  before!

What we’re missing is trust.  Trust is knowing we are love that is designed to be lived. There is no prerequisite  other than our existence–we are  the prerequisite. There is always a way to get there from here. Yet  because we see through eyes of condemnation– we are sinners, we’ve done evil, we aren’t deserving–our ignorance about who we are is something that’s hard for many of us to put aside.  We must learn to trust that what we do in ignorance only tells us about what people do apart from their truth.  When we do that, we are able to begin opening our hearts to ourselves, with no requirements to first be met. And when we allow ourselves that grace, we are able to truly share it with others.

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Yes, the road may be bumpy. Yes, we, or others, may have done many things out of  ignorance that make it hard for us to remove ourselves from that pain. Yes, we have very present reminders of our past beckoning us back.  But we aren’t just given once a year to let go and renew ourselves, but every day– heck any given moment in a day!– to walk past our hurt, and into Love. And the only thing we must do is to allow ourselves to do it.

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The funny thing about love is it’s total, complete. It is the opposite of lack, it has no deficiencies. It also can’t be compromised–we can’t identify ourselves as Right, or Hurt by Someone, or as Too Bad To Be Good.  Love requires us to choose it and nothing else.

Here is one of several places in the Bible that say there is only one God, and it’s a jealous God:

” I am the LORD, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8).

There are also many places in the Bible that hold Love above all, and  John 4:8 declares God as Love:

He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.

We generally don’t relate the two together…but why not?  If we do, then what we’re being told is that our truth is love and it’s nothing else. When we identify ourselves as being of anything but, we are lost.

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I know many people who, eschewing the often unsuccessful or transient nature of resolutions, opt to choose a word for the year. I myself am doing this for the second year.  And actually, this year my word  is not Trust, it’s  Love.  But as we have seen, it’s impossible to have one without the other. So if you are looking for happiness, looking for a new word, reaching for better, remember Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz–your happiness is already in your own back yard. Love is the only truth, and you are a creation of Love! It’s just a matter of trusting in that enough to let go of everything that tells us otherwise.  Happy New Year to you! I’m holding us all in a space of love and trust.

mysticsaint.info

On Sin and Love

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A note from me: I am writing this post because I see a need. It seems that once again changes coming up in our society have many of us  fearful.  Many of us are afraid of the growing social acceptance of things we’ve long thought of as sinful, specifically  homosexuality and the growing demand of the LGBT community for equal rights. I am not writing  a political statement and will not address politics. I’m writing as a Christian, I am writing as someone who fiercely  loves people  on both sides, sees how much hurt and anger is  in each, and feels for both. But most importantly, I am writing as someone devoted to  God, who is Love. So I am writing to share and explore what the Bible says about sin, what Jesus taught about how should we  treat each other, and the salvation of Love.

Sin is a little word with a big emotional impact. When you read it, you probably have an immediate  visceral response. It often brings about feelings of judgement, specifically, of being judged and being found guilty.

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The bible mentions the word sin in some form or another somewhere around 800 times. And we sure do hear it in church, how we are born sinners, and how we shouldn’t sin, and most importantly, what is considered a sin. On the internet, in the news, in magazines,and in politics, we are hearing about what folks hear the Bible say is right and what is wrong, about Christian values, and what behaviors should not be accepted.  Currently, the political struggle of the LGBT community to secure equal rights has fanned the flames of much passion, which for many comes down to whether being gay or lesbian, transgendered , and bisexual is a sin.

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But though we know it as a Christian word, it’s actually been around a long time. Though ancestors of the word meant guilt in Old Norse and Latin, it’s also  the 22nd  letter of the Hebrew alphabet , the 12th letter of the Arabic alphabet, a mathematical function, slang for artificially produced marijuana, and the Akkadian god of the moon.

But interestingly enough, I think it’s true meaning comes from one it’s it’s  Latin counterparts, sine, which means lacking or without. We look at the word sin and stop at it’s connotation with bad or wrong behavior, behavior contrary to God.We are taught that the story of Adam and Eve shows us that sin is disobedience to God.  But I think it’s more–it’s the apparent separation from God.  Eve and Adam used the God-given freedom of their minds to choose to know the world for themselves, and ushered in humanity as we know it, a race that is inherently bi-polar; that is it experiences itself in two distinct ways–from it’s environment, and from  an almost wordless part of itself that knows itself as more. The mundane and the divine.

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Sin  is that apparent separation between us and God/ the Divine. We aren’t really separate, but our experiences in the created world tells us we are. We commit sins, that is we act against our true nature of  union with the Divine, because our daily lives make it difficult to  accept ourselves as God’s children.

In  John 8:6-11, Jesus saves an adulterous woman from being stoned by asking those without sin to throw the first rock: “But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”“No one, sir,” she said.“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

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We can read that and hear Jesus saying not to break the commandments. But  when we read his teachings about love, like  Luke 6:27-38,  Matthew 22:34-40, John 13:34-35 ,  a bigger picture emerges, one of Jesus calling us to leave our life of separation with God, to accept his boundless, infinite love, and to give ourselves over to it,  to see that through God’s love, grace and mercy, we are truly His children.

diggingtheword.blogspot.com

So therefore, since we are all born in apparent separation from God, since we all have to struggle through life to find out who we are, what purpose is there in categorizing sin and sinners? Matthew 7:1-5 speaks to this clearly;  Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.   Romans 3  tells us we are all sinners, and that all people who seek God and accept God’s love will have it.   We aren’t drawn closer to the  knowledge that we are God’s child by someone telling us we are evil. Neither Jesus, nor Buddha nor Mohammed spread God’s message through condemnation–they all came extolling the virtue and saving grace of love. And neither will we save ourselves or anyone else by judging evil, and counting sin.  On the contrary, we are told to fix our eyes and heart not on our troubles, but on God.( 2 Corinthians 4:16-18). We are told to think of the admirable and good things of life, ( Philippians 4:8) and to forgive unconditionally (Matthew 6:14-15).

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So when we see someone who is different,what should we do? We can remember that inside, they are the same as us, they are someone who is  lost, and who doesn’t know themselves as God’s child. We can do what God does for us; love them. Love them with all our hearts. If it’s difficult, we may have to go back a step or two and work on accepting and forgiving ourselves for our own separation from God and the things we’ve done against our Divine nature because of it. God understands and forgives us, give yourself a great gift and forgive yourself so you can truly accept that forgiveness and love.  Once we stop judging and condemning ourselves, we often find we have no need to judge and condemn others.

Love and blessings ,

Sam.

Jump!

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Sometimes life just goes along.
First we’re ahead a little, then we’re behind a little. In the end, we don’t always see a lot of forward movement, and it can feel like all our effort hasn’t amounted to much.

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But  life isn’t only about moving forward or back. Sometimes life is a jump! Jumping is a concentrated burst of energy against a powerful force.  When we jump, we are letting go. We are leaving what’s comfortable, and for a brief moment, giving ourselves to a different environment, one where we can’t walk or even run, but for a moment,  fly.

temple2011.org

Maybe life isn’t about how far ahead we’re getting. Maybe it’s about our willingness, and our ability, to jump. So take a break from striving, and just jump!

“…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles..” –Excepted from Isaiah 40:31

“When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.”-Philippe Halsman

“Jump off the cliff, and build your wings on the way down.”-Ray Bradbury

“It’s possible to forget how alive we really are. We can become dry and tired, just existing, instead of really living. We need to remind ourselves of the juice of life, and make that a habit. Find those places inside that JUMP for joy, and do things.” – Anonymous

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success.”-Henry David Thoreau

Jumping for joy yet? Check out this  blog devoted to the joy of the jump! http://www.jumpbecause.com/index.html

New Wine

theactivecubby.wordpress.com

I have a dear friend at church who is about to wrap up a wonderful Sunday school series she’s been leading on the food of the bible.  I finally made it last week, and she had a full meal for us. It was such a delight to eat foods together that come from the time of the Bible, especially such tasty ones!

One quandary though I know my friend had been having was that many of the recipes called for red wine to be used in the cooking. She does not drink, for religious reasons. And so she had mentioned to me the previous week that she was having a hard time getting a variety of recipes for the whole series that were wine-free.  It was timely because our pastor had recently given a sermon where he mentioned Jesus’s first miracle, turning water into wine for a wedding. “Why wine?”  she wondered aloud to a group of us ladies in the church kitchen. And in the cool way that the Divine has, I had just been wondering about that very same scripture and thing myself lately! Why  did Jesus make wine,and what does that imply?

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Well, what strikes me is if we turn to scripture, we can see what kind of life we are meant to live when we open our hearts to Love and are reborn in that precious grace:

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”John 10:10

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Cor 2:9

” Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..” Eph 3:20

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus”.Philippians 4:19

yogamodern.com

God gives us the gift of being reborn  in Divine love, not just to get by, not just to life a passable life, but to reclaim the full and amazing life we were meant to live. And in John 2:1-10, where Jesus makes the wine for the wedding they are attending, we are told that he didn’t just make any old wine. He made excellent wine! “Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”  John 2:9-10  A life lived through the grace of Divine Love is rich!  It is to be savored! It is potent! It is precious! It is a precious gift for a reason–we aren’t being told to do behave a certain way to just be spared, we are given new eyes to see the truth of ourselves, each other, and the world–that it is love!

erikklaustermeyer.com

Water is the basis of all created life. Water cleanses, refreshes, and can be amazingly beautiful.
But the making of wine is a careful process where fruit is cultivated and processed step by step until it’s distilled to it’s truest essence, an essence that just gets purer and more valuable with time. Likewise, the  wine of the Spirit takes a fleeting life and through a steady process of transformation, makes it timeless.

thehopetree.com

So whether you chose to drink man-made wine or not, ( or other spirits!) we can all marvel at the new wine of the Spirit that is available to us.
Thank you, God, for loving us so much, you don’t want us just to survive, you want to gift us with the joy and fullness and richness of  your love.  And if you live in town and want to attend my friend’s last class to see what tasty things she’s prepared, drop me a line and I’ll give you the details! And actually  dessert last week turned out to be spiced pears, cooked in honey and red-wine….she said she felt like it would be ok. All I can say is that it was sure delicious!

Idioms

artandimagesbykimfreeimageoftheday.blogspot.com

“A burned child dreads the fire.” “Once bitten, twice shy.” We’ve  grown up hearing these sayings.  To protect ourselves, we quickly learn to fear and  avoid what  hurts. In the case of touching hot stoves or otherwise putting ourselves in a harmful position, the advice is sound. Unfortunately though, most of us don’t stop there. We’ve been victimized as children, so we withdraw. We’ve been hurt in love, so we don’t open ourselves up completely again. We’ve been disappointed, so we learn to settle. It’s only natural, upon being hurt, that we withdraw from the pain. However, withdrawing from what hurt us is only part of the equation. We must then have time to heal. So often we withdraw, but don’t heal. Sometimes we even stop withdrawing, we learn to cope by  denying  the pain or illness and press on.

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Pain has a purpose. It teaches us what hurts us. However, what ends up happening to most of us that we  define our lives by it. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. ” we say. We are determined to keep a closer watch on the world for those that would take advantage, those that would hurt. Our past tells us what evil looks like, and how to avoid it.  We can see then that unfortunately in coping this way we paint ourselves into a corner. By identifying what is bad from what has hurt us, we keep ourselves back in the past, thinking and feeling and reacting as we did when we were first hurt in that particular way.  And unfortunately, with our pain as our primary guide, it’s very difficult to forgive or heal.

freerepublic.com

How do we get out? We change our view. Instead of letting our pain tell us what is bad and should be avoided, we recognize it as a teacher that tells us where our thinking doesn’t match up with the truth. For example, I’ve long dealt with the issue of feeling inferior to others. When something happens that reinforces that feeling in the present, I now know I’m seeing an old fear, and old pain. Each time it happens, I have a chance to hear those feelings from my past, and see that they simply mirror my limited experience of my truth at that time. Pain doesn’t tell us who we are, what we can be, or what we can have–it only tells us where we’ve been.

datingfun.org

So why limit ourselves to what we have felt and feared?  2 Corinthians 3:17 reminds us “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” So, lets go out there get messy and make mistakes. For every time we get hurt, we get the chance to let another lie go., and for every time we fall, we get a chance to get up and start anew. Besides, you can’t make a cake without breaking a few eggs.

dailymail.co.uk

“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”– Leo F. Buscaglia

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”– C.S. Lewis

“Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.”–Denis Waitley

“Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”– Aristotle

Imagine

I couldn’t pick that title without playing that song.  And, yes, you can cyber slushy me if you have to, I’m a proud Gleek! lol ( I’m actually not a fully realized one, as I missed a great deal of season two, which I’m aiming to catch up on asap.)  All of that aside though, lol,  this morning,  I was led to remember that  just a little  imagination helps lead us to God. We don’t have to imagine exactly how that would be accomplished, a la John Lennon. We just have to imagine the end result!

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Last night I fell into an old pattern of feeling there is just too much in me to fix, so much of me that’s not in unity with God.  So, I felt that way, I remembered that it’s not my truth, and I went to bed. And this morning I was reminded that when I focus on all of me that’s not in alignment with God, that’s what I’m going to see, and I’m going to feel the pain of that separation.

willfulcaboose.wordpress.com

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9 I know I keep coming back to this scripture, but there’s a very good reason for it, and that’s because I think it’s key to bringing us to God, towards living our truth as beings of Love.  Paul is telling us that there are two things that bring us to God/Divine Love–fixing our minds on the beautiful, the good, the truth–our truth in God–and then putting into practice that which is in alignment with that truth.

milikui.blogspot.com

So often we focus our mental and emotional resources on two things– our past pain/perceived separation from the divine currently being reflected in the present, and all the things we must  accomplish. Our day to day lives are a steady stream of old responses being replayed into very full and demanding lives.  It’s no wonder that stress and depression are so common.

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The answer is to stop looking at where we are hurting for the truth.  Because all that pain tells us about is the past, it says nothing of who we are. So how do we go from hurting to healing? Put our feelings into the healing. Imagine what it feels like being whole and healthy and happy–be detailed! Don’t focus on how that will happen–that’s God’s department.  Focus on feeling it. It might be very far from where we are, so it’s often helpful to go a step above where we are at this moment, and then once you’re there, a step above that, and so on.Why does this work? Because, to put it simply, we are what we eat! We don’t walk across the room by being upset we aren’t there. We think about where we want to go, and we put our energy there one step at a time. Most of us are lucky enough to take walking for granted, but there was a time you couldn’t do it. You couldn’t do anything. You learned by seeing it, thinking about it, and doing it, bit by bit.

by Daniel B. Holeman, from niinac.blogspot.com

So  lets imagine! Let our thoughts be on the beautiful, the good, the true. Let them be on your good, if you can do that. Let’s fill up our empty spaces with God’s truth for us.  Because the joy, love, beauty, unity, and peace we dream of is just waiting for us to hold a vision of it within ourselves.

A Good Day

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Two years ago I started driving carpool to school, with our son and his school mate, and his little  brother and her big sister. Our mornings sometimes were a little bumpy, but I wanted to send them off feeling good about themselves and the day.  So we developed a little morning ritual. On the way out the door l I would tell the kids how nice they looked, and how much we loved them, and how proud we were of them, and how excited I was to hear about their day after school. And  as we were nearing the school, I would loudly ask “Who’s having a great day today?” which was followed by a loud chorus of “Me!”s, including myself.  At first the kids were a little shy, and unsure.  But quickly  it became a game to see who was louder, sillier, and the most enthusiastic with their answer. By the time they got out of  the car they were smiling and laughing and feeling good, even on those rougher mornings. I started looking forward to that time of day myself.

This year I’m carpooling with a different neighbor, and our youngest, now a first grader,  is an old pro at going to school with his big brother. She drops them off at school, and I pick them up. So right before they leave, I’ll sound our rallying cry of “Who’s having a great day today?” As we all shout the requisite “Me!!!”  they head out the door, smiling and goofing around.  And I realized the power of approaching the day this way. Even after a whole summer break, and tough mornings, just asking that question brings an instant response of enthusiasm and happiness that is truly amazing. It’s really an automatic response now, we shout our me’s and immediately we’re full of positive energy and enthusiasm for the day.

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After I sent the kids off the school this morning, I called  my husband who was just getting to work. Talking about our plans for the day,  he said,”I’m going to have a good day today” to which I automatically replied, laughing, “You ARE having a great day today!” I apologized for being obnoxious,  while realizing and sharing why it felt wrong to me  to say “going”. Because if I say going, I’m saying well it’s going to be good in the future, and the future may or may not happen, depending on if things go our way or not. And when  people have to do the right things for us, and we have to do all the right things, well, lets just say we’ve dramatically reduced the number of good days we’ll have in our lifetime! But if I say it as a given, I’m claiming it as my truth, and aligning my thinking with the present, instead of my past, and making a choice that no matter what, in the end it’s all good.

canusodanceresearch.blogspot.com

Most of our  perception comes from our past experiences,  so our daily experiences often are a reflection of  what we believe because of our pasts, and it also defines our vision of the future. If we think about that, it means a lot of the meaning we assign to our daily lives doesn’t reflect the truth of ourselves.  Think about that for a moment. All  that all we have feared, all the limitations we have believed about ourselves and what we can expect of our lives is  based on our perceptions of our experiences at fixed points in time. Where our experiences are good, of course we have no problem.  But our fears and pain as children become filters of perception we take into adulthood with us, constantly reinforcing those fears with experiences validating them because that’s what our filter is set to see.

The implications are amazing!  Realizing that we automatically experience the present in the framework of our past and so can quickly  become lost in a sea of old feelings and fears, it’s become vital to me to affirm my truth in God the moment I get up.   In the Old Testament Proverbs 23:7 tells us “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”   Buddha speaks to this a great deal;  “It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.”   “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?” In the new testament  Ephesians 6, Paul teaches that it is necessary to “put on the armor of God” to be able to withstand negative influence.   In Philippians Paul instructs “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. “

debragrayelliott.blogspot.com

Our truth is that right where we are, we are loved, that in every moment, we are guided,  we are not alone. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 God is Love,(1 John 4:8) and through God’s love and grace we are all  children of God,  it takes just faith the grain of a mustard seed to claim  it.(Matthew 17:20) ( John 14:12) God’s love is within  and around us constantly, so with God anything is possible, because Love is innately transformative, limitless and infinite. Scriptures tells us this again–  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”Jeremiah 29:11– and again–”We … speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.”1 Corinthians 2:6-10

animals.desktopnexus.com

Our transformation awaits us. It begins with our summoning the faith and hope to belief that we are more than we have lived, it progresses with  the gradual surrendering of our perception about ourselves and the world, accelerating as we again and again refuse the lies of our past feelings and claim our truth as children of infinite love in the present.  Though our inheritance as God’s children is truly a miracle, since only we can assign meaning to what we do and what is happening  to us, we are the only ones who can claim it.  Romans 8 speaks so wonderfully to this, it’s really worth it to read the whole chapter. But my favorite scriptures of that chapter that illuminate these thoughts are Romans 8:38-39 ” For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” and Romans 8:31″ ..If God is for us, who can be against us?”

shawnsgivingthanksdaily.blogspot.com

I’m not saying that we should or will be singing and dancing all the time. We will all suffer, we will all have losses, tragedy most likely has touched our lives, there will be illness.  But when we know our truth as God’s children, when we know and claim ourselves as an expression of Divine Love, where  we have experienced despair, we find peace and comfort. “Here is a trustworthy saying:If we died with him, we will also live with him;if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him,he will also disown us;if we are faithless,he will remain faithful,for he cannot disown himself.” 2 Tim2:11-13  At first reading this can sound a bit punitive, but as we see that it’s our thoughts that determine our vision,   we realize that when we fail to love ourselves and claim our truth as God’s child, we have blinded ourselves to God. The vision I have is of God continually  blessing us with a shower of love, waiting for us to come outside and delight in it and scoop it up, but overcome with pain and fear, we’ve  locked ourselves in the house, where we huddle in the corner, trying to keep ourselves safe from all that we perceive will hurt us. But once we learn that our perception is deceiving us, we  are able to  really get to know, trust and put our faith in God/Divine Love.  Slowly we open our eyes and lift our head.  Step by step we make our way to the front door,  and opening  it, find God waiting for us, Infinite Love. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Rev 3:2

the-surrendered-singles.blogspot.com

Outside the lenses of our limited perception, an amazing world exists. A place we can share love, light, hope, and joy. God offers us unconditional  love that releases us from our pain and guides us to the fulfillment of our promise as God’s own beloved child, a holy expression of love.   How could it not be a good day?

Love the Empty Spaces

from alyssacharee.wordpress.com

Sometimes we have to walk where there is little light to guide us, and we stumble and fall. When that happens, we often curse the darkness. But what if instead of cursing the darkness, we love it? When things get difficult or we get hurt, it’s normal  to react to ourselves and others with anger,disappointment,sadness, or any number of negative emotions, and it’s important to allow those feelings to have a voice. But what if we didn’t stop there. What if we continued through it by loving what caused those feelings?

 

The bible tells us that we are forgiven as we forgive (Matthew 6:14) and to love God with everything we have, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt 22:37-39).  Jesus also exhorts us to love our enemies. (Matthew 5:44).  One way I’ve found to get past the darkness of my past and to embrace God’s love is Ho’oponopono.  Besides being a very long word to type and say, lol, Ho’oponopono is a Hawaiian method of forgiveness and restoration to a state of love and peace that works by acknowledging our interconnectedness and shared experience.

 

As we acknowledge our frailty, our imperfection, and love ourselves through it, we can love ourselves and our “neighbors” right along with us.  God is love, and our truth through Jesus is we are God’s children, and so love becomes our birthright.  Through His example, God is teaching us that love isn’t earned, it is given. As soon as we stop demanding our love be earned, we find the dark has lost it’s scariness, and becomes simply a place to rest and admire the stars.

Pieces=Peace

by BlackJack0919 Khoi Ngyuen BlackJack0919.DeviantART.com

My husband and I were just talking on the phone, he’s at work with a million things to do, and I’m at home with the same.  We  both   struggle  daily with feeling overwhelmed, something we work on overcoming on a routine basis, but often don’t succeed, resulting in our both being stressed-out  and feeling stuck.

Most of us have read by now that experts suggest we break big tasks down to avoid overwhelm.  So if we know that, then why are we still struggling?  Where I think  my husband and I, and perhaps many of us, struggle  is achieving that in how we look at life. I think we see in the big picture,  all that is undone, all that we’d like to do, all that isn’t good enough, all that could be achieved if it was, all that is wrong, all the right stuff that we can’t get to. No wonder we’re often  overwhelmed and discouraged– our thoughts read like  a how-to manual on becoming clinically depressed!  Cognitive Therapy identifies this as the trap of  “all or nothing thinking”, and it is indeed a big contributor to depression. It’s crazy how insidious these distortions can be, hiding in plain sight, as it were.

from stethescopesandivlines.wordpress.com

No good comes  of being stressed and at odds with ourselves, always seeing the more to be done instead of celebrating what we’re doing.  So how do we move our focus from the big picture?  I think we focus on the moment at hand. When I was in college, I had a great  Drawing I instructor, Mr. S, who taught from a book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain ( you can glimpse how long ago that was by seeing what an old addition of the book that is now!) . I learned that to succeed in drawing, I need to surrender the time keeping, quantifying, constantly analyzing part of me. I also learned that art happens a step at a time.  If you look at the process of creation half-way through it’s often a big ole mess. You just have to take it one step, one piece, one focus at a time.

So my husband and I have declared it “Happy Piece Day!” We’ve decided we are  happily giving ourselves to the moment, without worrying about what comes next or anything else.  Wise people have been trying to tell us this for a long, long, time,  I guess sometimes we just need to be reminded!

May a practice of looking at things in small pieces bring us all great peace. <3

from http://joyful-ep.jp/assistant-blog/Llanetz/2007/03/blog-post.html

There is no royal road to anything, one thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures. -J. G. Holland

“You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” –Psalm 16:11

A jug fills drop by drop. –The Buddha