Being The Dream!

Namaste Divine Dreamers! I greet you this Thoughtful Thursday in a place of peaceful balance as I allow priorities to inform my actions and disallow the sense of overwhelm and not enoughness I know too well as informant. You could say I am employing Unity tools of affirmation and denial to bring me into harmony along with a whole host of other tools from my Transformational Toolbox!

So! I return where I left off here on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Monday, drawing from a talk I gave wherein we explored Unity principles, which again, I must say are universal principles! We looked at ourselves as divine dream of the One Presence (principle #1) and spent time being with ourselves as divinity:

In the infinity of divinity and beauty created on this planet; magnificent life forms as tall as mighty majestic mountains and as small as miniscule mushroom mitochondria supporting all of life, so are we created with this same magnificence. Look at your hand or any part of your beautiful body now and see the wondrous Love you are created of. Be with your body, any part of it or all of it and feel yourself as this Love you are created of here and now ~ experience your body with Love, appreciation and celebration! Let’s sing it!

I Am! The acknowledgment and affirmation that we are Spirit, The metaphysical meaning of I AM denotes our oneness with Source. Created in Love, we are this Love and goodness expressed as stated in Unity principle #2, I am good, we are good, made in the likeness of our Creator, each of us embodies divinity. Sometimes or perhaps often times, in the wake of distraction and forgetfulness, we don’t see our divinity and beauty. We may not even see it in the beauty that always surrounds us; in our loved ones, spouses, children, parents, pets; in our food sitting on dishes crafted for us and our nourishment, beauty smiling at us from the tree outside our window, or from clouds in the sky or the colors there that begin and end each day. Beauty and goodness is indeed all around us and inside us even if and when we forget to notice it. All too often, we take beauty, divinity, creativity for granted! We forget who we are and where we are; beautiful divine miracles able to co-create our reality, co-create our dreams and callings into reality on this multifaceted dreamscape of beauty and abundance where we live. Even those of us on a conscious path are only aware of so much. Generally we take (too) much for granted, we don’t think too much about the very essence of life that animates our bodies ~ the breath! Our breath keeps our bodies alive of course yet it is also one of our greatest transformational tools! We all know to take a deep breath to calm down and many of us have practiced different breathing patterns in yoga and other teachings. Let’s center now with our breath as we breathe in the goodness and beauty of who we truly be. With or without this song, breathe deep now into the essence of the beautiful dream you are created of.

an you see yourself in the mirror of your mind with only eyes of unconditional Love and appreciation? Deepen into that appreciation and awareness of the beauty of your body temple, your spirit home; keep breathing beauty down deep in your depths, breathe your truth, you are a blessed breath.While the busy distractions of the world may call us away, we can always take a mindful moment to breathe (our) beauty. No matter where we are and what’s going on, we can always take a beautiful breath, a deep breath of our beautiful depths.

Unity principle # 3 says that we co-create our reality with our thoughts. Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind. This includes all we feel and believe. This can be the place where our dreams give way to a different “reality”; the one that surrounds us rather than the one inside us. When we think about the life we dream of, do we know it as possible or do we make alterations based on what others or society may say is not easy at best and impossible at worst. We know that impossible is also ‘I’m possible’ with the Spirit I Am of our being if we so choose it. Still most folks I know including me have dreams that are subject to a long list of compromises. Many dreams become ‘rationalized away’, some dreams are completely forgotten. Can you recall a forgotten dream now?

From the song When Dreams Die Â©1994 Laurie Story V
Where do dreams go when they die?
Do they live in salty tears that dreamers cry?
Or do they float to a home where hope can make them fly?
When dreams die, where do they go? Does anybody know?
Since I wrote that so many years ago, I have come to know there are many, many places dreams can go including into the divine order of alchemy and sometimes better, bigger dreams. If we live long enough, there’s usually at least 1 pretty big, aha, ‘ glad I didn’t get that’job, person, house, whatever, that you once thought was so perfect! And there is also the aforementioned dreams that we never realize due to arguing for our limitations. Just as we can forget or divinity, we can diminish our powerful creativity to create our dreams and visions. We are created out of Love AS Love to express Love! Acting on our dreams is a way we express the Love we are made of. Consciously, unconsciously, with divine grace, we are indeed the cocreators of our lives including how and if we manifest our dreams. Unity principle #4 says that we use cocreation manifestation tools like affirmative prayer and meditation.

Through spiritual practices, we do stay anchored in source and centered in our truth of beauty and goodness. We can use affirmations and denials. I love using the word CHOOSE to help me align with these tools and keep the words, intentions and vibrations positive, especially when I am needing to transition from a negative or low place like feeling lonely or unsupported, “I choose to know that I am not alone. I choose to know I am surrounded by Spirit and that I am loved and supported. “ In these positive denials and appreciative affirmations, I usually shift my feeling and vibration quickly. Words are so powerful! Along with prayer, meditation, denial, and affirmation, there are so, so many transformational tools like the breath and visualization, all of which help raise our vibrations of Love and Peace and goodness. We know that raising our own vibration also raises the whole planet’s energy and can even help those who are suffering next door or around the world! The vibration conversation is, of course, an important one in our evolution! In the wake of this moment’s unification conversation, we take note of how embodying our divinity does indeed ripple out to the world. Which brings us to the 5th and final Unity principle:

With this, we return to the truth of our beautiful breath selves and living our dreams. We remember to be anchored in Source, to breathe our beauty, to dream, to use our transformational tools to align with the shine of our divine design, to be and live the truth of the dream we were birthed to be.

No matter where we are planted and who we are with, we can and will keep listening and trusting our own divinity and creativity, unified with Source and our divine essence. We choose to stay anchored in this omnipresent, ever present presence, breathing our beauty, living from this place, able to reset into our beautiful depths in any moment. We can, will, do, use our transformational tools to know our dreams and live them. Aligned with Source and highest good, we raise our vibrations and send this blessing out to raise the consciousness of humanity. Together, we dream and we rise, living the dream of the Love we are created of. And so it is!

PS
I am sharing the dream in Leaping Literacy Library with a spotlight on Panda this week! The gentle giant is a beautiful breath of beauty gracing the planet for the last 8 million years! Once a carnivore, now Panda only eats bamboo and reminds us to sit peacefully and chew on our blessings! Namaste, Love!

Living The Dream!

Namaste Dreamers and Peacemakers!
Greetings on this holy day holiday celebrating the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!
Let us listen to his melodic voice from his “I Have A Dream” speech as well as some song inspirations in this ETV segment playing in our Leaping Literacy Library ETV:

Here are lyrics from another one of our songs honoring Dr. King:

I gave a talk yesterday at the Unity Spiritual Community, Citrus Heights touching on Dr. King and inspirational others yet mostly focused on each of us as divine creation, breathing in the beauty we truly be. Today I will share a few points and power point slides from the talk as well as lessons learned DOing the talk!

The usual custom these days is to have a video recording of the talk yet apparently the FaceBook live stream ended up being a Zoom view of one of the participants rather than us so it was deleted. I am still hoping to at least hear an audio of it.
(1/18 Update! For any on FaceBook, the talk I speak of in this post did post there!)

Yet! Herein lies so many more spiritual lessons! I will leave it at 3:
1. Trust the divine order of ALL, paying attention to what the ALL might be saying at any given time! The main trick in doing this with an appreciation celebration is to release expectation of how things “should” be rooted in the knowing that it is ALWAYS for the highest if we let it be. And! Knowing we are always flowing with what we allow and can ALWAYS keep choosing what we allow!

2. There were several people yesterday both live and on Zoom who expressed their gratitude and blessings from hearing my musical talk. Their heart felt kindness expressed, reverberates in me especially if a wondering of, “How was that?” creeps in. The lesson here is, it is ALWAYS great to express your appreciation of another!

3. Back to divine order paired with discernment. I spent a lot of time and energy on doing the talk experience and it was a wonderful one in so many ways. Yet! It necessarily means other important projects in my world were put on hold. My ongoing sorting of prioritizing my callings is SO present and real ~ AlWAYS!

In the same way I talked at other churches and performed in schools and libraries for so many years with no video or audio records, I get to sit with what the experience was. I think the biggest thing I “messed up” was showing my power point slides in the right places 🙂 and I was guided to print them into my paper copy of the talk and just got too tired and outa time to do it! It was a small thing while I mastered a big thing by delivering the talk, mediation and songs pretty darn close to the prescribed time. No small feat for me! Though of course, I was working with all things possible, divine flow Source. I could ‘improve’ my presentation by not talking about these ‘flubs’ during the talk yet that’s me, always my heart on my sleeve. And perhaps it makes me and the whole thing more real ~ there is that crazy thing called reality as a part of living the dream! I loved being able to use the prepared talk to keep me on (timing) track while I left plenty of what was written out and allowed Spirit to say some of those written words and plenty that weren’t actually on paper, as such. A fun flow of divinity, creativity, and functionality!

SO! The spiritual lesson here is to fully allow the goodness of what was and sift that through with trust! Trust your callings and dreams ~ always and in ALL ways!

So! How about sharing a bit of the talk here and now?! I began with a song and meditation to center into Source, to allow “Peace breathing me”.

From this centered place, we began the unification conversation. There were many points from the talk I could make here yet since I have blogged on about the experience of doing it, let’s be with the first part of it and I will return with more over the next few weeks. Among other things, the talk was an overview of the 5 Unity principles, each of which is a talk all their own! As I approach the anniversary of New Thought Families as a .com, this process is great for my discernment and commitments for this space going forward. Leaping Literacy Library spiritual family literacy resources continue on ~ no matter the name! After all, Unity principles are at their heart, universal principles!

Oh yes in the center of the Circle of Life is our ever present, omni present Great Creator! The 1st basic Unity principle is that there is One Presence, One Power, God the Good. We come from this Source, by any name, breathed into existence with this Love of Creation. Could it be that our very lives are born out of our Creator’s dream? The one Presence had a dream of us! The mighty essence of creation had a dream to Love more, express more, BE more Love! To be yes Love expressed AS US! Perhaps at the very heart of what it means to live the dream is to acknowledge that WE ARE the dream! In this way, we can step away from the cynical meme when we say we are ‘Living the Dream’ because we are indeed, in the truest sense living our Creator’s dream of us as Love expressed, divinity expressed, creativity expressed. Which brings us naturally to Unity Principle # 2. Next week!
Namaste beautiful breath of Life expressed!

PS. Here’s some old recordings of the 2 songs I opened and closed the talk with!
~ Currently here in our Library ETV that is always streaming commercial free!

Singing Notes Of Hope

Namaste shining beacons of hope!

I greet you in the flame of the 1st Advent candle lit this week for hope as we open our hearts to this 2020 Christmas season and the beckoning of a new, brighter year. I have a whole list of 2020 gifts to share here at some point this month yet this Transformational Tuesday of charitable giving, I am focused on the powerful gift of hope.

Our newest Om HomETV is centered on the fiery power of hope with song and some time to play and pray. Our Feature Creature Teacher is Hummingbird who reminds us of the power of small and the mightiness in keeping it light. As the tiny teacher Hummingbird shows us ~ when we are light weight energy moving with faith filled dreams, we do feel joyous and filled with hope.

The smallest bird in the world has the biggest brain and certainly keeps the energy moving!

The whole OM Hope show is below at the end of this post if you want to spend more time with Hummingbird and all the rest. From The Transformational Toolbox, there are 3 invitation celebrations. Should you choose, here it is in a video excerpt and/or in part, in the wonders of words!

Om HomETV Transformational Tool of Hope

Yes! As we reach into our Transformational Toolbox for hope, we find the friends of hope are there too; light, faith, imagination, dreams, joy, and as always, divine energy flowing!

Shine the light into any darkness!

Hope is the light in the darkness. A deep despair feeling is a dark place we can light up with a hope filled thought. The candle is an age old transformational tool and these days (especially with younger children), we can easily use a battery operated flame or even a flashlight to call in the light. We can call in the light to any darkness. You can sit in a dark room and then switch on a battery candle or flashlight in silent motion or affirmation spoken. As we affirm the presence of light in hopeful affirmation, we fill our hearts and minds with faith. We choose to believe in our hope filled thoughts. Let’s try this now …
Think of anything that feels like darkness … some disappointment, disillusionment, or despair. You can have eyes closed or be in a dark room, ready to flip the switch of light. Your affirmation of light opens your mind and heart with the power of hope and new possibilities. Hope is a light in the dark! Hope is also the fuel for your dreams! When you open up, with a hopeful yes and let your imagination help you experience your dream as reality, you are entering into the great potentiality that you possess as co-creator. As we spend transformational time with hope, we know that we can always begin again in any moment we have only to say YES!

Shine the light of hope on any darkness!

As we embrace the infinite possibilities that hope helps us center in, we play with the light. Feature Creature Teacher Hummingbird in free form flight is always feeding from the sweetness of life, reminding us to keep our energy moving and light!

Helicopter Hummingbird can fly in any direction reminding us to change course (of thought) as needed. Keep your energy moving in a positive direction. Keep it light!

LIGHT! Shine a light on any darkness with hope filled affirmation. You can also illume any dreams or visions with imagination! Spend time with your dreams fueled by hope filled faith … experience your dreams as reality with imagination ignited by your hopeful YES I can! Feel the comfort and joy that hope brings!

At New Thought Families, we are playing in the light for our daily Play and Pray Calendar tis December. We are singing our transformational thoughts to the traditional tunes of Christmas. And this week, we center on hope with our Feature Creature Teacher Hummingbird ETV, Power Point, and Ask and Affirm Cards. Our new Your TruEBook templates are focused on generating hopeful thoughts all found on our Leaping Literacy Library Free Shelf. With or without our templates, generating hopeful thoughts you can draw from at any time you need a lift, can be a positive, light filled gift!

EnJOY our Leaping Literacy Library Free Shelf Resources for fostering Hope!

YES! We be blessed with the light of hope. Thank you so much for sharing your light here and in the world! Below is our Om HomETV Show, Notes of Hope. It’s also found at famlit.tv

Keep your flame of hope ignited as you fly freely, lightly and playfully with your dreams! Namaste friends.

The Blessedness of Wondrous Oneness

We belong to the whole, we are one!
Sing it with me on today’s Om HomETV!

Namaste threads of Love in the Web Of Life!
I greet you with steadfast faith in the prevailing goodness of humanity even from the moments that feel like our tapestry is unraveling. I suppose it is and at the same time, we are weaving new patterns of ways to be. Such is the gist and the gift of oneness.

Like peace and all else, oneness begins with me, and you, and each heart and conscious mind that inhabits a body. Personal oneness is to be aware and in harmony with maiden, mother, crone, with pacifist, playfulness, and passing, passionate angry thought bursts. In our oneness with self, we reckon with ages, stages, and phases, dreams and schemes, perceived triumphs and failures. Hopefully we love ourselves through it all and when we fall, we find our way back up and in again. Back into self awareness and careness, fairness and dareness. When we can be compassionate with ourselves ~ all parts of ourselves ~ the blessedness of oneness finds us in the circle of time. Every time.

When we allow the infinity of divinity in and through us, we are open to this oneness with self and increasingly, with all others. In this expanded place of awareness and compassion, we can ever more fully understand and live this memorable poem from Thich Nhat Hahn:

Please Call Me By My True Names

Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second 
to be a bud on a spring branch, 
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile, 
learning to sing in my new nest, 
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, 
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, 
in order to fear and to hope. 
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and 
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time 
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond, 
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence, 
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, 
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks, 
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to 
Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea
pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my
hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his “debt of blood” to my
people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain is like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names, 
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once, 
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names, 
so I can wake up, 
and so the door of my heart can be left open, 
the door of compassion.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

For my part, I am the one woman show, the audience of one, the dreamer who sees something greater than I am able to be. Yet. Yet! I experience the infinity of divinity in the flow of yes, the flow of blessed, the flow of oneness. Check out my flow at famlit.tv!

In today’s Om HomETV, we are celebrating the blessedness of Oneness with heart literacy in song, story, prayer, imagination. Spider is our Feature Creature Teacher in the web of life and we hear from Anansi and Infinity. We playfully practice oneness with imagination in our Transformational Toolbox. We spend time in nature’s oneness affirming the native teaching, :We belong to the whole, we are one.” A visit through this week’s interfaith calendar includes the Hindu festival Navarati Dusserha. We open in oneness, we open with om!

Thank you for being here in any moment that you are. Thank you for practicing presence to oneness, to goodness, to ISness! May you be fully compassionate with all in your circle. I am grateful for you and all you do. Namaste, Love!

From the New Thought Families’ daily Play & Pray Calendar today, the 292nd day of 2020!

Released For Peace

Namaste Thoughtful Ones Breathing & Releasing For Peace!

Happy Clocktober as we embark on the 4th and final quarter of 2020. The way things appear, the last 25% of this unprecedented year could match up with the first 75%. Irrespective, we can still and always keep breathing deep, keep breathing peace.

The September swirl of circles for our Leaping Literacy Library ETV et al was on the one hand, my usual messiness and on another hand a clarity of blessedness and breakthru of yessness. Though it seems I am perpetually ‘behind’ for what I set, I am ever more increasingly at peace with it ~ and all else. Within reason and not without continued trips to the transformational toolbox, I am breathing and vibrating peace. Logistically, that shows up here in this right now moment as a linked sharing of our last 2 Om HomETVs which both came out late on their Sundays. The plan going forward for this last quarter is to post each Sunday’s show with a few words here on the actual Sunday they come out. The peaceful prayer remains to connect with those who would be served by these co-creations. Whatever you are co-creating, I wish you well in staying centered in peace and well being. Thank you and namaste, Love!

Transformational Tools For Peace!

Interfaith Inspirations!

Trusting Transformation

Namaste this Unity World Day Of Prayer, Thoughtful Thursday!

In keeping with Unity’s ‘Standing In Truth, I Move From Fear To Faith’ and our Creative Spirit Families’ September Circles, I offer this prayer:

Holy Divine Presence, Creator of all there is,
We center in Your light, Your Love,
Your goodness, Your gooness, Your isness.
Like the caterpillar in the chrysalis
We pray to know the good in the goo.
From the chaos, confusion, dissolving illusions,
We breathe in the truth of Life’s Lovelight of goodness.
We breathe out the messiness of transformation’s gooness.
We breathe in trust of divine order always and in all ways.
We breathe out the fear, the doubt, the pain of all in the circle.
Connected with all there ever was, is, will be,
Faith fills our feet as we stand in truth.
We affirm our isness now. We are. I am.

Deep in the breath of the great I Am
is the breadth of all that is. Isness.
Divine essence in and though us circling this world now.
We trust the sun and moon to rise and set.
We trust humanity to awaken and not forget.
We trust the goodness in the gooness,
Freedom’s flight from silent chrysalis.
We trust the truth of who we be, created as One I Am, are we.
Trusting transformation, in faith filled fullness,
we embody Your great Isness.
Aho!

Below is our latest Leaping Literacy Library ETV, Circle Of Life, in our continued celebrations. The show has special segments honoring grandparents! Grandparent’s Day is this Sunday,9/13, and we will be here with another OM HomETV sacred celebration.  I continue to trust the we that is here to share these co-creation celebrations. May you be filled with faith as you stand in truth, fortified with trusting thoughts in life’s circle of  beautiful lovelight. Namaste Love!

Reverent Remembering

 

Namaste Reverent Remembrance of all that is good, wise, and Spirit revived!

Thank you for being here in what is a return to Love after an absent August; I greet you with a grateful heart for we have both shown up in this sacred September moment for our divine appointment. After all, showing up is most of it, hugh?! Yet! The how and why we show up is all about the remembrance!

Every tool in our transformational toolbox leads us to our roots; tethers us to the Spirit beings we are inside these bodies, families, communities, humanity. Our connection to the Great Spirit is the elevating force that opens us more and more to the divine beings we truly be. As we experience our divinity, so we open the eyes of our hearts to see the divine everywhere present in this beautiful creation we are all a part of. Rooted in remembrance, we reverently travel the route we came here to travel.

Remembering!
As our ‘I Remember’ song from the Trust What You Hear CD sings, “There are so many things to remember, sometimes I forget … (insert list of forgotten things!) … I remember who I am. I’m a child of God born to Love and serve in all the best ways I can. When I look down deep inside of me than I truly understand. I’m a child of God born to Love and serve, I remember who I am!”  It sings better than it writes, so do give it a listen! The point is, in the midst of all there is to remember in our day to day busy-ness, anchoring in remembering who we truly be is essential to embodying our divinity in all the moments of remembering and especially in those of forgetting!

Forgetting!
As we age, we tend to forget. We joke about ‘senior moments with the seriousness increasing for some into  dementia, ‘old timers’, Alzheimers which of course can be so painful for family and loved ones living this journey with those experiencing it. Our brains are incredible and it is disconcerting at best when memory or cognitive functions slow or fail. Our hearts and other organs also hold memory and more of the vast complexities of this are being studied and understood through such things as organ transplants whereby organ recipients inherit inexplainable desires from the organ donors!

Today’s awareness of forgetting and invitation to remembering is more about the indwelling Spirit and how issues of the heart, aka pain and trauma, can lead us into a hardened heart that takes us out of our ability to live life in reverence, awe, grateful joy. Babies and small children remember. They delight in the world around them moment by moment. Instead of learning from them, we actively train them to be of this world, to forget! And oh this world is so set on forgetting! Shiny objects everywhere, we can forget why we first logged on to the computer, much less remember who we came here to be.

Active Remembering!

Honoring, rituals, and holidays are important markers of remembrance. The first Sunday after Labor Day ~ this year September 8th ~ was set aside by President Jimmy Carter as Grandparent’s Day. Memories of our ancestors as well as important people in our lives and society help shape who we are individually and collectively. Having our kids remember, honor and celebrate our elders and each other fortifies the Circle of Love that is family and humanity.

Our New Thought Families’ Inspiration page highlights some of the Interfaith holidays and remembrances each month. Sometimes the intersections are fascinating. This September to remember, the 8th is Grandparents Day, the Christian celebration of the birth of Mary, the beginning of the tenth month of the Bahá’í year, ‘Izzat meaning “might”  and (always) International Literacy Day. While literacy is the ability to read and write it also means a knowledge or competency of a certain subject; i.e. financial literacy or spiritual literacy. It is certainly an important and motivating remembrance for us here at New Thought & Creative Spirit Families!

This Thursday, September 12th is Unity’s Annual World Day Of Prayer. The 2019 theme is Infinite Presence ~ Unlimited Potential And the affirmation is: I celebrate the vast possibilities for my life. Prayer is the ultimate lifeline to remembrance! The 12th is also the last day of the Jain Paryushana Parva festival that is a celebration of the natural qualities of the soul whereby Jains practice forgiveness and actively reach out to family with cards and letters. Hindus celebrate Anant, Ethiopia a new year, and the 4 day Ghambar Paitishahem festival celebrating the creation of earth and the summer harvest begins for the Zoroastrians.

Every Day is a Good Day to Remember & Celebrate the Infinity of Our Divinity!

When we go through rough patches of personal and collective life as we have been experiencing on various levels for all of time, we do well to remember the beauty, harmony, divinity within us and all around us. Some of the best alignment tools are prayer, gratitude, forgiveness. Nature offers us an endless expanse of beauty and inspiration. Hug a tree or look up to the sky for Spirit renewal!
Nature Remembers!

Elephants Never Forget!
It’s true that elephants have amazing memories and have been studied to show that they always remember each other even when separated for 20 years or more. They are also one of the few species with grandparents, specifically grandmothers often stay with the herd and when they do, it greatly increases the fertility of the daughters and the mortality of the young. Feel the grandmother Love! It is indeed, the Love that is the remembering.

It is Love that brings me back here and into an ongoing realignment with what is mine to do for spiritual family literacy. For years this was a weekly blog and in most recent years, monthly at best. For the rest of 2019, I will be here weekly. A new resolution for (dis)continuation will be set for 2020. For this right now moment, I leave you in celebration of Love, in remembering the Love we are and came here to be. On the Leaping Literacy Free Shelf are celebrations of remembrance and family ~ sing Remember Sacred, I Remember and Family Of Love!
We have returned to the intergenerational voices and invitations to SMILE on this month’s daily Play & Pray Calendar. Smile into the truth of who you are in this remember September moment! A beautiful, smiling memory! Thank you for smiling with me. I do smile with you as we collectively remember the Love we truly be. Namaste Love!

Evolving Energies!

Namaste Vivacious, Visionary Valentines!

Greetings this fleeting last breath of February! I am here, in this mindful moment, in large part motivated by not missing the mark on the month. This blog was birthed in February 2011 and I have been here every month and couldn’t miss this one! Deep breath of commitment, surrender, pause for purpose … Truth is, my life hasn’t really had room for this blog of late … hence the last moment markers on the last few months’ dates. Time to realign the shine of this divine design? Maybe yes, maybe no, maybe so. If you are here, at any divine shine moment, thank you. Let us have a heart to heart.

We are all devoted to something. Some of us devoted to too many things. Yes, let us all be devoted to humanity. In the oneness blessed of who we be, let us pray for the tapestry of hearts that is the collective body we are home to. It is easy and perhaps natural to be wrapped up in what is right before us with no mind or heart space left for ‘others’. Tragedies occur, come into our consciousness, we pray for those affected and then we necessarily move on. Yet! Devotion demands diligence. Continued prayers and caring. Whether our thoughts, words, actions seem to have an impact on humanity’s heart or not, we continue to show up in the smallest of ways … with Love, in Love, as Love. We do because devotion makes a difference ~ if in no other heart than our own. We are, after all, heart energy. Holy Creator’s breath of Love expressed. With a mindful, loving presence, we can manage our energy with everything from food choices, thoughts, balanced choices of time for work, sleep, spiritual practice and play. I have not been visually online much at all the last few weeks (months?) as I show up for so many other areas of life and strive for balance and beauty within and in all I am dedicated and devoted to. Facebook is something I seemingly abandoned mostly out of life and energy overwhelm. The swirling energies of social media became too much for me to successfully manage so I just stepped (way!) back. Increased peace and balance are worth it and working for me, for now. Our lives continue to be an evolution of old & new, light & dark, good & bad. With Love in the center, divine order is always unfolding. I still have a fair amount of energy going to the elders all dying slow, slow deaths (like this blog?! ~ maybe ~). I see what it is to stop caring as the literal energy in the body lessons to the point of inability to show up for things that were once important, or even inspirational. Juxtaposed to my now 18 year old son in the thick of scholarship applications, local speech contests, drama and band performances ~ he like I have been for so much of life ~ lending his young, zealous energies here, there and everywhere! Balance. Angels and ancestors whisper to learn from the old, bring their strength and Love to the new. As I have let go of some things and still struggle to do half of what calls, I appreciate the divine dance of divinity as it plays out in life’s infinity. Dying and living, co-creating on all levels, we are humanity. At the heart of how I express life and Love these days is in the elevation of vibration ~ in work, play, everyday conversations. If we can somehow leave peeps the better for our interactions … sometimes I am golden in this and other times less so. We know how people, situations, news, views make us feel. Our inner Grace Positioning System will always let us know whether we are elevating and being elevated or going the other direction. With that information, we often have the freedom to choose whether to continue or disengage for the sake of our highest and best. There is no better playground to practice this than in our minds and hearts. Feeling good and positive and elevated can be work yet with the right transformative tools, it can be fairly easy and even enJOYable. And when it’s not, we keep our 3rd eyes on the prize knowing we will get to that feel good place of Love and it is well worth the journey. Indeed, it is the only way to go for ultimate happiness and elevation of ourselves ~ and humanity!Leaping Literacy Library! It is a place I am dedicated to be! I keep working on what’s there and inching towards what I want to be there! Our Free Shelf is freshly stocked with E’s as we change letters every 2 weeks in keeping with our For Humanity Daily Play & Pray Calendar at New Thought Families. There are special invitations and videos with the Season For Peace as well as inspirational game pages with Peaceful Reconstructionists. Even though I haven’t been making room for the Blog, the other regular features of the websites have been receiving as much TLC as I can muster. The daily Play & Pray celebrates 10 years in May and it remains the truest invitation I can issue you … a playful opportunity to be in your heart each day.As we find ourselves in this year’s Lenten season with Equinox and Easter coming this way, may we all entrust everlasting essence as we shape our days. We are made of Love and all the ways we choose to express this divinity has an impact on humanity and life’s energy. From any and all darkness, may we align with the shine of our divine design and our Spirits Rising ~ anytime! Thank you again for being here. Thank you for continuing to rise into your highest Love expressed. Namaste, Love Divine, Namaste!

The (9/11) Legacy Of Living Love

Namaste Blessed Breath Of Love Expressed!

This week marked the 16th American anniversary and remembrance of the 9/11 tragedy. As with many national occasions, our streets were lined with American flags and many POVs (points of view) were flying about in live and digital conversations.  I felt compelled to re-tell my own recollection of that day and how it was to be on an airplane at that moment with 18 month old Jeremiah on my lap. I found a version of that retelling here in this blog voice from 2011. Our New Thought focus that September was the same as this September (and most in between!) ~ Oneness. I find myself in oneness awareness at this time of year for many reasons … for one, September as our season shifter, Spirit lifter, is often home to many interfaith celebrations. Our current Inspirations page is loaded with them! Next week I will speak to the sweet Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah and Fall Equinox. Yay for the blessings of balance and new beginnings! For today’s mindful moment musings, consider the apple below and how it’s cut influences what/how we see.

Let’s look at Love expressed from point of view. We all have POV operating all the time both consciously and unconsciously. Lately personal and collective perspectives have seemingly put a spotlight on fear and lack ~ the opposite of what we know to be spiritual truth. From a knowingness of oneness and abundance, we can align with each other as global family. To quote Mama T again this week, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa

To return to the remembrance of 9/11, I find my heart hurting that 16 years later, terrorism has increased to epic proportions with the numbers of worldwide refugees reaching past the point of a humanitarian crisis. And yet this country that I love is not responding yet rather from the governmental stance is threatening deportations of our dreamers, disallowing rather than increasing the intake of refugees and still planning to build … the wall. In a time of evolutionary expansion, fear is still calling for walls … even though it is true that we are one family who belongs to each other! (BTW, American DIY super store Home Depot wants to help build the wall so you may choose not to support their business.) Our individual and collective POV‘s are in a widespread range of fear and Love. I, like many, remain somewhat conflicted about how and when to speak up and out.While it is essential that we decipher for ourselves how we see things and what is ours to do about it, we do well to return to our center as spiritual BEings in the midst of our action or non-action DOings. In New Thought, the surest pathway to this (re)alignment is prayer. Unity was founded on prayer and this evening marks the beginning of the 24th annual Unity World Day Of Prayer :

Unity Annual World Day of Prayer. A 24 hour vigil & celebration held the 2nd Thursday in September. 2017 theme is Peace In The Midst Of All Matters affirming: I am peace in the midst of all matters!

No matter how you center or pray, it is always a comfort and support to do it with others. There is always someone praying in this world; at Unity village they do it 24/7. Prayer can be a lifeline to peace as we release our individual and collective burdens to a higher Source of infinite Love and potentiality. I am deeply grateful that my 17 year old Jeremiah and I still pray in and out our days. Hopefully, prayer will indeed be a lifeline for my son throughout his years as it has been for me and for us!

Ultimately, how you pray and align with your divine design is uniquely up to you. Remember the eye and the star of the apple and to check your points of view. Remember the Access Consciousness tool to ask, “Who does this belong to?” We are sovereign beings even and especially in the truth of our oneness. It is from this place of sovereignty, we most effectively live our divinity while simultaneously embodying life and Love as One. May we continue to be blessed in Living as Love expressed! Namaste, Love!

 

 

Labor Of Love

Namaste Wondrous Light Workers! Happy Labor Day!

With a deep breath of Love expressed, let us ponder, just a moment, what it is to do our work in this world …

Today, the first Monday in September is always set aside in America to honor workers and a now, mostly forgotten long, old battle with worker’s rights, fair wages and treatment. According to the US Department of Labor, this day is the “yearly national tribute” to the “contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and wellbeing of our country.” At the least, it’s good to remember that this holi-day is more than BBQs and shopping sales.
In the heart of existence, can we breathe into what it is to have a life’s work of being the Creator’s Love expressed? I think about this a lot and thought it a good time to share some musings. The recent response to Hurricane Harvey comes to mind with regular folk going to ‘work’ to rescue folks with their personal boats, trucks. In the wake of disaster, the best of who we are as humanity often rises up to shine. For me personally, I have been showing up to do non-paid work for a very long time. One example is the daily Play & Pray Calendar at New Thought Families, now in it’s 10th year! This September, we remember we are one on the calendar. In re-visiting oneness, I am reminded of being oneness blessed. After all these years, I’m not sure how much this daily offering serves the world yet it is work I still feel is worth showing up for.
Like many, if not most or all of you, I have a lot of family work. Spiritually parenting my 17 year old son and 92 year old father in particular. These are jobs that have and do pay me some, in terms of monetary dollars yet they are a 24/7 kind of commitment with immeasurable compensation due and (sometimes) received. I am also called to keep clearing ancestral ‘treasures’ on this earthly plane. This work is not always met with understanding or appreciation by some in my family which can feel like a slap in the face. Whatever the deets, family is always work. From the logistical chores and upkeep to the emotional treading and threading as we weave the web of relational oneness. It is a labor of Love that can feel rewarding or extremely challenging. What keeps my heart straight is aligning with Spirit as the family heartbeat. From this place I am more able to be compassionate, caring … and willing.

Why We Do The Work We Do
Jobs! Work! Career! Life Calling! Life Path! Showing up day in and day out to give of ourselves and our gifts. We all know plenty of peeps on the spectrum of labor and labor of Love. I have been one to follow my heart with work, most of my life. Always a creator with a prolific body of work in the Leaping Literacy Library, I have to say the ‘ordinary’ job of being Jeremiah’s mom is one of the best jobs ever and I have been doubly blessed by a generous compensation of child support. I know that so many on this planet haven’t been afforded this aspect of freedom in choosing how they feed their children and themselves. We often work … just … for the money. I have found that many, including most in my family, seemingly only value the jobs I do that actually pay money. Which is funny when you think about how someone like Mother Teresa is revered for her life’s work. From our PeaceMaker page on Mama T:

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary.
What we need is to love without getting tired. ~ Mother Teresa

When thinking of work and the kind of giving she did, it is remarkable to know that not only was Mother Teresa not in it for the money, she spent many of her days in darkness … feeling empty in her giving. This has been well documented and so I hope that after she left this earthly plane, she did indeed receive her just reward, aka in her soul journey, she experienced her great work as worthwhile.

Good works are links that form a chain of love. ~ Mother Teresa

To You Who Gave ~ By Me (Laurie Story  V)

Mother Teresa who gave to the poor …
did you ever wonder what it was all for?
When you listened to your heart, was it always true?
And in your endless giving, who gave to you?
In your selfless living, did you feel the grace?
Were you filled with the same mercy that you gave?
Did you ever soak in a warm bubble bath?
Did you have a good friend that made you laugh?
Were there arms to hold you? A voice in your ear?
Did anyone speak to your doubt and fear?
Were you blessed with at least one comforting friend;
someone you could trust in and forever depend?
Beautiful Mother Teresa, you ministered to us all,
even if your faith faltered, you answered the call.
And if you ever wondered what it was all for,
know now that your love, loves you back ever more.
~ Laurie Story

So! Does a labor of Love have to involve suffering and selfless giving?! Let’s hope not! Or we would never plant flowers or paint pictures. I hope that whatever your work is in this world, you honor the inner creator as well as the Great Creator that breathed life into us all! From the spiritual perspective, our job is to keep affirming and living, “I am one with all that is” in an honoring of all expressions of the divine, especially the ones that prove hard to see the aspects of their divinity.

Leaping Literacy!
For my part, I’ll just keep being me; showing up for many in my life as well as for Leaping Literacy! Below is our September Free Shelf super stocked with a celebration of creativity, spirituality and trees! I also am posting our new offerings for Creativity Classes locally. The studio is new. The offerings are newly revised for the fresh space. The leap of faith is ancient. I am showing up to do the work with a playful invitation for others to come and experience their own joy and creativity. It’s good work. I am grateful for it. And so grateful for you ~ for ALL the work YOU are called to do. Namaste, Love!