You are no doubt familiar with the idea that we must give away that which we want to receive. It's a common thread woven into many spiritual disciplines. And it might not have been easy to wrap your mind around when you first heard it. At least it wasn't easy for me. My parents had lived through the depression, thus I had been raised with the idea of scarcity and giving some thing away, regardless of what it was, meant that we/I had less for myself. Coming to understand the power of giving and then experiencing the abundance, in some form, that returns t[...]
7 I was in a great conversation with some women friends this morning. In fact, we talk every morning about the spiritual journey we share. It's not only a wonderful way to begin the day but it's a great opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the world we share with so many others. Our conversations always center on leaving the world a more peaceful place than we may have found it upon first arising. This morning our discussion boiled down to doing no harm, even for a minute, when in an encounter with a friend or a stranger. Making the decision to li[...]
"Seeing" where we want to go is the first step to getting there, I believe. Making resolutions is one way of defining our direction. We have no doubt all done that many times, and even kept some of the resolutions for a few weeks, perhaps. Sharing them with others is more powerful than simply writing them down and tucking them away, I think. Over breakfast this morning a friend said she and a group of women were gathering this afternoon to make vision boards. I recalled more than thirty years ago sitting with a friend and cutting pictures and specific wor[...]
Happy New Year every one. I love new beginnings. Don't you? I was at a meeting at noon today and our topic was new beginnings and starting with a clean slate. To have learned that the past, whether the memories are good or bad, needs to be left behind is empowering and freeing, at the same time. I used to drag all the baggage I could with me every where. I was bogged down by it and never managed to glean the message that was trying to get my attention in the moment. My life is much simpler now and my experience of peace is so much greater since having[...]
I don't know about you but I feel a bit discombobulated during the holiday week. I wake up wondering what day it is. I plug in the indoor lights because I love them but it feels somewhat anticlimactic to do so. I feel like it's appropriate to give myself some time "to vacation" from the work that calls to me and yet I am more comfortable in my structured existence. I seem to go through the motions of living rather than getting down to the nitty-gritty. Lunches with friends, dinner parties too, give this time a special quality, of course, but I feel like I[...]
I am like a kid at Christmas. As I've said already in an earlier entry, I love the lights, (and I have mine lit all day), the spirit of giving, the carols on the radio and the joy that most people feel at the holiday season. I even love visiting the malls and hearing the carols playing through the loud speaker system. But there are millions who fail to find the joy in the season because of their personal circumstances, circumstances that are unfortunate through no fault of their own. I watched on the nightly news this evening a wonderful story about a young[...]
I have been present in a number of settings recently where people groused rather than expressed gratitude for the holidays. The refrain, "I hate Christmas" is expressed every day by some one in my circle of associates. I can understand that for many the holidays dig up a lot of bad memories from childhood. Or perhaps bad marriages dig them up. But the past is just that. Past! To continue letting what happened "then" determine what we see and feel now, is like raiding the refrigerator for week-old left-overs rather than eating the freshly prepared meal tha[...]
As children, most of us made a list of the things we wanted from Santa. I painstakingly wrote him a letter every year, in fact. Until grade three, at the top of my list was a doll, and not just an ordinary doll. I had poured over the Sear's catalogue for weeks looking at the details of each doll pictured, imagining her in my arms. My mother was careful to observe my final pick. Of course I never knew why. And what a surprise on Christmas morning that Santa had selected the very one I wanted. I had written sundry other things on the list too but n[...]
I am so often struck by the timeliness of the messages "I receive" at meetings. My sponsor has said many times that when I am ready, I will hear the message, or the explicit direction from God, that I have been prepared for. I used to doubt her, but not any more. I do hear exactly what I need to hear but I have to show up in the places I have been called to be, to hear the message. Isolating myself from others hasn't appealed to me for years but it used to. I wanted you to express your desire for my company. And I felt sorry for myself if you didn't.[...]
I love the holidays. I love the lights, the parties, the multiplicity of meetings where gratitude is the topic. I love opening cards and sending messages to loved ones. I even love wandering the stores where Christmas music is playing. I don't buy a lot of gifts any more. And I have requested none. Giving to charities rather than giving gifts to friends and family members who really have need for little is a far better way to spread some cheer I think. I don't know about your town but in Naples the need is greater this year than ever before. More fa[...]