Nurture Your Spirit

“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”
~Bell Hooks~
When we take the time to care for ourselves, we have more to give those we love. It’s important to make yourself a priority. Create moments of balance and peace, set your intentions, eat mindfully, express gratitude and choose to bring the best version of yourself to your interactions. When you have clearly defined boundaries, others will learn how to honor them.
Your way to peace is unique. Through trial and error you’ll discover what brings you joy, what drains your energy and how best to navigate the ebb and flow of life. When others act in a way that prompts greater clarity about your own needs, be thankful. That soul has played a vital role in your development.
You are a master in the process of awakening. Everything that unfolds in your experience is a purposeful aspect of your life’s journey. When operating from a space of balance, peace and insight, you’ll be able to consciously utilize whatever life has to offer in a meaningful, empowering way.

Worry

“Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.”
~Roy T. Bennett~
Ever wonder what would happen if you gave up the addiction to worry? Many masters have taught that worry is a waste of your precious energy. Live today consciously, mindfully attend to your tasks, be responsive rather than reactive, and allow tomorrow to take care of itself.
When you place your full attention on the present moment and do one task at a time, it drops from your consciousness. There is no need to carry additional thought about it. Worry arises only when something is left unaccomplished or we know that we have rushed through a task in order to get to the next thing.
To break the addiction, focus on doing one thing at a time – fully and completely. Your conscious attention will slow down your concept of time and everything will get completed, typically with greater accuracy than when it is rushed.
Practice extreme alignment with the Now and you’ll discover the love that rains down upon you from all dimensions. When you choose to see your life experience as an ongoing, evolving conversation between you and the Divine, it changes how you walk in the world.

Contrast

“The path to love requires open-hearted attention to the very things that seem to block our way to it.”   
~Ezra Bayda~ 
The richness of various ideas, textures, perceptions and soul expression creates a vast tapestry of exquisite beauty. Contrasts allow us to experience life from several different perspectives as we explore the nuances of wholeness. We must dance within dark and light to fully appreciate the perfection in the imperfection.
Positive and negative, sorrow and bliss, yin and yang teach us of the infinite possibilities inherent within neutrality. Resist nothing and instead, allow yourself the opportunity to fully experience the present moment with an open heart. There is always something new waiting to be discovered.
Life allows us to learn from one another through contrast. Quietly appreciate differing viewpoints and history. There is a sacred unity at the core of your being and it comes to life through being a witness of life’s beauty.

Soul Friends

“Just be friendly. Rather than creating friendship, create friendliness. Let it become a quality of your being, a climate that surrounds you, so you are friendly with whomever you come in contact.”
~Osho~

Sometimes we meet others and feel an instant connection. From the moment of ‘hello’ there is a feeling of safety and warmth and this person brings something special to your life experience. These are typically reunions of two souls who have played together in many lifetimes. The ease you feel is the natural result of the many interactions and karmic agreements you two have shared.
As an older soul, you may have this feeling often. Your long history on the planet has repeatedly included many members of your soul group. This is why we must be accepting and grateful for those who grace our lives. It might be a brief re-connection or you may share the journey for a while but the feeling is one of coming home.
And when someone leaves your life, know this: you will ultimately spend far, far more time together in eternity that the few moments here in this lifetime that you spend apart. Soul friendship is the highest form of love.

Acceptance

“I don’t mind what happens. That is the essence of inner freedom.
It is a timeless spiritual truth: release attachment to outcomes,
deep inside yourself, you’ll feel good no matter what.”
~Jiddu Krishnamurti~
Acceptance, when engaged mindfully and authentically, is a powerful tool of transformation. Saying yes to life unlocks the prisons of perception and sets us free to experience life as it is without limiting mental interference.
The journey of awakening is unique for each of us. Imagine what we can learn from one another through the sharing of our varied experiences, insights, and love without judgment. Honor each path as sacred. See everyone as your teacher and your life will be enriched beyond measure.
We are lifetime students of love. The contrasts and paradoxes of human experience teach us of the infinite ways that we can enter into the Oneness that is the true nature of our being.
Mastery calls upon us to be conscious of our state of consciousness in the present moment. Your peacefulness creates peaceful experiences. Your love creates loving experiences. When you embody grace and acceptance, your life will be easier.

The Way of Love

“Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.”
~Shunryu Suzuki~

Authentic change takes patience and consistency. While a flash flood can do some immediate damage, things tend to go back to normal once  the waters recede. The slow, constant movement of water, however, can carve through mountains, change the form of rock or ultimately lead itself onward to the sea.

Everything that you experience is multifaceted. On the surface it may prompt a quick interpretation; however, learning how to examine differing perspectives is a powerful tool. The immediate reaction is the flash flood, while mindfulness is the water that gently carves new openings through the hardest of energies.

When you choose to see yourself, the world, and all it contains as sacred, your behavior will transform. Everything pulsates with the vibrant energy of the Divine and for those who have eyes to see, all is love.

See Beyond the Illusion

“Peace can be made only by those who are peaceful, and love can be shown only by those who love. No work of love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.”
~Alan Watts~
The world that we experience with our physical senses is merely an illusion we have collectively created. Its purpose is to provide a playground of discovery. As spiritual beings having a human experience, we seeded this place with sparks of infinite possibility, ever-evolving creation, and movement.
Getting lost in the illusion is one aspect of the game. We immersed ourselves so entirely that we forgot the truth of our limitless, eternal Being. From that space of perceived separation we entered the game of karma, which teaches the value of opposites and paradox until the power of neutrality is learned. As the karma is cleared we begin to once again sense connectedness which underlies all things.
When you find yourself lost in the mind, overwhelmed by feelings, or frustrated by a limiting situation, seek to ground yourself and access the balancing energy of our sacred mother earth. From a space of stillness, softening the stories of the mind,  it is possible to see beyond the illusion.

Wisdom

“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,
Love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves.”
~Nisargadatta Maharaj~
Our human experience is one of paradox – everything is messed up, yet everything is ok. When we pull back from the stories of the mind and become loving observers, we discover the ability to live within the paradox.
We are One, yet each of us has a unique path of awakening and each of us must do our own work. Contrasts are required: there is no love without hate, no light without the darkness, no awakening without sleep.
Learn to see the value in everything. Move out of blame and desire and instead, see yourself as an infinite source of energy experiencing the illusion of separation. Seek only to awaken. Know that your journey is infinite and that you will never stop learning. But also, know that you are Divine, a master in the process of remembering. Human perception is small and limited… life and love are immense.

Little Miracles

“A miracle is often the willingness to see the common in an uncommon way.”
Noah Benshea

Many walk through life blind to the beauty and possibilities that surround them. Distracted by the mind, all they see are struggles that need to be overcome, money to be made or others to impress. These outward distractions are so all-encompassing that they often overwhelm.

As we begin to break free from conditioned thought, we can return to the realm of the love. Within it, we discover that there is enough time, that things are simple and life is filled with little miracles that remind us that we are here to expand rather than contract.

Take the time to appreciate the little things. When a hummingbird makes you stop and smile, a breathtaking sunset fills your heart with color, or a breeze gently rustles the leaves of trees nearby, simply notice. These sparks of energy are everywhere, waiting to inspire the movement of love within us.

Love and peacefulness combine and are expressed as kindness and compassion. Seeing life differently allows us to experience life differently. The purpose is to awaken.

One Love

“Love is the recognition of oneness in the world of duality.”
~Eckhart Tolle~
What would it take to drop all judgment and step into the realm of inclusive, loving experience?
As we walk together on the path of transformation, it’s important to remember that we all ultimately follow the same journey. Enlightenment is a process of awakening that spans many, many lifetimes, and what you see today is but a small fraction of the overall tapestry of existence that we weave.Consider this: You will have the opportunity to be every race that this world has to offer. You will have the opportunity to embrace every religion, spiritual belief or no religion at all. You will have the opportunity to be rich, poor, healthy, diseased, understood, misunderstood, desired or shunned. The process of awakening embraces every experience as important, each plays as integral role in the cultivation of compassion.

So when you feel you don’t understand the thought processes or actions of another, it may simply mean that you have yet to experience that type of life situation or that you don’t consciously remember the lessons you carry from past lifetimes. Be patient with one another, no matter where they are in the process of awakening. Walk with a quiet stillness of understanding and compassion. Realize that we all do the best we can from where we are, with what we have.

The most important thing to focus upon is your own state of consciousness. We can absolutely change the world with our love while providing space in which transformation can occur.