Immediate Guidance

Your subconscious will give you promptings, ideas, answers and definite intuitive impressions based on the nature of our focused attention and intense interest.  Joseph Murphy

Recently, I have been decidedly lacking in inspiration.  Everything I have had to write has been a struggle, time wasted in light contemplation and not very productive.  I am out of practice in writing.

I kept telling myself that this was a project that was simple, fun and easy.  Yet, sitting in front of the computer with a black screen was all I could come up with.  

Deciding to be productive is just as daunting.  Then it means that not only do you write, but that writing should be brilliant.  I have not often written “brilliantly.”  

Then, I realized that I have not been using my God given talents in order to create what it is that I needed in order to be brilliant.  Somehow, I forgot to “go to my higher self” and request the information needed in order to write what was necessary.

It also struck me that I didn’t have that “intense interest” that Dr. Murphy write about above.  Great lessons in staying in the present time and developing the focused attention and intense interest.  Works all the time!

Divine Plan

You are not here merely to make a living.  You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope 

and achievement.  You are here to enrich the world 

and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.

Woodrow Wilson

Have you noticed how much we have to remember, or learn, to pay attention to during a lifetime?  Every book has places in it that are inspirational, or moments to ponder, or solutions to put into action.  

I know that each of us has a particular talent that the world needs or we wouldn’t be here.  But I also know that most of us are multi-talented and can do many things and are able to teach many things.  Sorting them out takes us back to having too many choices in our lives.  Back to choosing what is the most fun, uses our passion, and is very satisfying and fulfilling.

Some of my talents are very latent.  For example, in speaking for a living, I also want to sing - high and low and in-between.  But when I do, my throat closes up, fills with phlegm, and I end up coughing.  Another example is that at times, I am a very good writer.  In fact, sometimes I discover that my writing is smarter than I am.  I never have enough time for hand crafts and always have several projects going at one time.  Jigsaw puzzles and Lego’s are my very favorite, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to make money putting pictures together or pilling plastic blocks into forms that resemble wonderful buildings.

Inside of me is a natural curiosity about metaphysics and even after studying and reading for over 35 years, there is still a fascination about my Divine Plan and how to manifest an expanded horizon for myself.  Most say that the Divine Plan is naturally revealed while relaxed and filled with inner peace.  And I know that when I am teaching, which is part of my Divine Plan - because it comes so easy, I feel that I am touching individuals with my talent which then gives them the impetus or encouragement to step into their own Divine Plan.  

More than that, I know that each of us attracts those people who can assist us down our path and we can also assist them journeying down their path.  I know…I know…there are some I don’t particularly like or I wonder what I need to learn from them.  But as my former husband said to me one day, “Cindy, you don’t have to marry them!”  Ah!  Okay!  All I have to do is pay attention and release them them into their highest and best.

The lesson here for me is to just relax and all will be revealed in due time.  I know there is more to my Divine Plan but for now, I can just enjoy the process and the journey.  I hope you do too.

Richest blessing in all you do.

Spring is Almost Here

Am ready to plan my next month’s theme, since I have gone back to work, and when looking at March 9, it is time to change our clocks again.  Six months has already gone by!  Then, too, March 1 is our one year anniversary of living in Oklahoma City.  This last year has gone by very quickly.  

In January’s resolutions, one of them for me, is to stay in the present for longer periods of time so as not to lose track of what’s important or what’s happened, or what is going on at the time.  I have a tendency to look back and wonder…”where has time gone?”  I don’t want to rush my life that much that I don’t remember.

Yesterday, the temperatures changed dramatically from being a high of 24 to a high of 46 degrees.  It felt so warm that I wanted to drag out a lounge chair to the patio and lay in the sun.  

So, am I ready for Spring?  You bet.  I am ready to be able to take walks around the neighborhood and enjoy nature again.  I have this tendency to “hunker” down in the winter and stay put.  All I want to do is snuggle in front of the fireplace in a comfortable chair with an afghan and good book.

The birds outside seem to be in perpetual motion.  What fun watching their antics in feeding, keeping warm, and just having fun.  

Recently, I was having some challenges in time, scheduling and making the changes to working, and I realized that I want this time to be simple, fun and easy.  I want my intentional experiences to be easy.  I am tired of hard and challenging.  

So, with a deep breath, relaxing out and realizing that “this too shall pass,” I know that my experiences with rest, relaxation, working and all else that comes up with living is a lot simpler than it has been in the past.  Realizing that I am too blessed to be stressed, I let go, release it all into the highest and best.  And so it is.

Waking Up Even More!

“Once the soul awakens, the search begins and you can never go back. From then on, you are inflamed with a special longing that will never again let you linger in the low- lands of complacency and partial fulfillment. The eternal makes you urgent. You are loath to let compromise or the threat of danger hold you back from striving toward the summit of fulfillment.”

John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

“Anything you do from the soulful self will help lighten the burdens of the world.  Anything.  You have no idea what the smallest word, the tiniest generosity can cause to be set in motion.  Be outrageous in forgiving.  Be dramatic in reconciling.  Be off the charts in kindness.  Mastery is in increments, not in leaps.  Be brave, be fierce, be visionary.  To live this way is the most dramatic gift you can ever give to the world.  Consider yourselves assigned.”  Clarissa Pinkola Estés

On this very cold February morning, the most notable thing is the birds outside.  They seem to be very active and vocal.  Some smaller species are especially noisy while chattering to all of the other birds flying around.  This may be the way they keep warm.  And winter or not, they have to eat, but what I can’t imagine.  

One of the things I have noticed living in Oklahoma is that the flying insects are huge.  I have taken to calling them “flying livestock.”  But in the winter, it seems that they have almost disappeared.  So, what are the birds eating at this time of the year?  I can only hope that they are cleaning up the insects that are left over from summer.

The two quotes above have captured my attention.  There are times when I really want to say, “Stop!  Let me off this dizzy machine!”  There are times when I really want to go back to innocent bliss and crazy - where I can blame everyone else for what is going wrong in my life.  That was so much easier.

Now, all I can do is introspection.  Sometimes even having to contemplate the introspection.  And really having to take a look at my pusillanimous behavior.  It is not always easy nor is it fun to see some of my other character defects.

Once I build up my courage to see what is really there, there always seems to be the solution right next to it.  I love how this opens up new avenues of being and it always seems to be huge steps forward in consciousness.

It seems to me that the birds are always fierce, brave and visionary.  They go in spite of the seeming pitfalls.  And in all kinds of weather!  Oh, to be more like them in spirit!  

Surprise Yourself

Contemplating going back to work part-time, I am reading a wonderful book by Marcus Bach called “The World of Serendipity.”  In it he talks about engaging in life with less planning.  He defines serendipity as an unexpected discovery of something worthwhile during a search for an expected something worthwhile.  I love that concept.  

Last year I took a sewing class for a Serger machine.  On the first day of class, our instructor asked each of us what we wanted to get out of the class.  I told her that I wanted to learn how to do a hem stitch with regular stitching on the right side and an overlock on the underside.  

During the last class, she went through and made sure that all of us got what we had been looking for and when she got to me, she told me that all I needed was to get a twin needle on a single shaft and put it in my regular sewing machine.  Turns out that the bobbin toggles between the needles to give that “overlock” look.  I got what I needed while learning how to do something complete different.

Mr. Bach goes on to tell us that, “everything has meaning even though the meaning may not be immediately clear.”  I take this to mean that declaring everything as good even when life is challenging will lead to that “unexpected” something else.  

When we deeply think about that concept, it makes life a lot more interesting and we can accept that challenge as a “divine command” and do it joyfully and with the best of good intentions.  We know that that always leads to something else that’s good.

All of this leads to a most interesting insightful life.  Everything matters.  Everything has meaning.  And usually, it leads to something fabulous and wonderful in life.  

The secret?  Do the unexpected.  Surprise yourself.  

Holidays - 2013

Have a fabulous Christmas.  Make the myth of Christmas the best holiday you have ever had.  As you go into the following week, claim all of the good and then some of this last year, acknowledge all that you have created, relax, and allow the rest of it to fall away.  Declare this year complete.

Happy New Year!

Home for the Holidays

Having traveled for several weeks, I have a new appreciation of home, bed, kitchen and warmth.  We bought a motor home and took it on a trip to the gulf coast where it was raining and cold.  Motor homes are not very well insulated and so every time the door was opened, a blast of Arctic air entered and about the time, it felt as though we were about to get warm, the wind would start up and you could feel a draft of cold air blowing through the vehicle. 

Having three dogs, plus cages, and two adults in a 30-foot motor vehicle fills up quickly.  Just to make more room, I stacked the cages into the shower when we were not in motion.  But then, I was snuggled under an afghan with one or two dogs snuggled with me.  Nice way to vacation when cold.  Plus, a good book helps with a insulated mug of tea.

Everything is done in miniature in a motor home.  The kitchen galley is small so there is not much space for prepping anything.  Fortunately. I equipped us with enough frozen food so that the most we had to do was microwave, or toast bread for sandwiches.  Easy.

It is my firm belief that one of life’s greatest gift is the pleasure of warm, running water during the winter months, or the cool, refreshing water on a hot summer’s day.  I remember traveling through Mexico on early spring day, we came along a winding river and saw women washing clothes on the rocks, bathing children and generally basking in the warm sun while sitting on the river bottom.  I wanted to be in the water with them until I realized that they didn’t have running water at home.  They were there to do laundry, to get clean and to have a moment of socializing before other chores intervened. 

I complain that I have to vacuum the floors when on that same trip, we saw a woman sweeping out the dirt on her hard compacted dirt in her one room house with no door or glass in the windows.  Most of the houses had none of the amenities that I was use to.  The women had to go to the shops every day to get what they needed because they didn’t have refrigeration or stoves for cooking – only the small braziers sitting in front of their houses.

This is a time to appreciate all I have.  I have a washing machine and dryer so that I have time to write, to read, to, yes, clean my house, surrounded with warmth, even though it is 31 degrees outside.  I am so grateful to be surrounded in affluence, luxury and space.  Plenty of space so that all of us have room to move, stretch and relax.  Home for the holidays is the best ever.