MOVING INTO THE NEW YEAR

We always celebrate the New Year as a time of renewal and making goals. That is a good thing; however, we can do this anytime if we just take the time. Anytime you want you can set goals and start anew.

Sometimes circumstances that come along will force you to make a new beginning. Sometimes we don't like those circumstances but we can vow to make something good come from them with a little effort and a lot of hope. That is easy to say but not always easy to do. I know there have been times when if someone said to me, you can start afresh or take this time to make a new life, or there is hope for you, etc., I would have wanted to slap them silly. So it is not always easy to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is there though. Don't take my word for it. Find it for yourself.

So at the beginning of a new year I see more deeply into the implications of beginning anew at any time but particularly if you have had a run of what you might call bad luck or some sort of tragedy. Once you are able to get to that point and start making it happen, life will pick up for you and get your juices flowing again. Once you are well on your way, even if the struggle was very painful, you will feel an inner strength that you didn't know you had and your self esteem will get a much needed shot in the arm.

This post would have been good for my other blog "Moving On Through Loss" but having it in one spot is good enough.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May this new year bring you closures to old business and new beginings and may the joy you experience out rank any unpleasantness or unhappiness that you may have been through this past year.

Namaste'

LOVE AND HOPE AND TYING ONE'S CAMEL

There is a saying “Where there is love, there is hope.” There is also an Arabic saying, “Trust in God but tie your camel”.

Tie your dreams to love and hope but trust that the Divine Plan will be unfolded as it must and know that this trumps any hopes or plans of your own.

Such an approach is the way you balance between what is desired and what is to be.

Such an approach is a way to look at doing your part but knowing that Infinite Wisdom knows how to connect all the dots for everyone concerned so you can let go of the results.

Such an approach is another and very different way to think of trusting in God but tying your camel as well

INFINITE LOVE REFLECTED

This morning as I opened the drapes in my bedroom I noticed something I rarely get to see. There was not one ripple upon the pond, nothing to disturb its perfect peace. There was nothing to cause the surface or deeper water to move.

When the pond is like this (a rare treat indeed) the trees are reflected so purely so perfectly that the images produced upon the water seemed real. It was almost as though you could not tell the real thing from the reflection of the real thing. As I gazed upon this sight the flat surface of the water seem to take on dimension and that depth seemed to go on forever.

I was aware that we are like the images of the trees. When we are calm, peaceful, loving, and we are allowing nothing to disturb the waters of our minds and hearts, we provide most perfectly at that those times, the background upon which our Creator can be reflected. It is through our cooperation that God can experience and be experienced.

We are not the tree/God nor are we the reflected image of the tree/God but rather we are the water/mind upon which the image is displayed.

Though I took a picture of it, this image is also not the real thing but the closest I can come to sharing it with you.

LOVE AS THE REAL THING

I firmly believe that without love being cultivated within first, then any act of kindness or respect is an imitation albeit a good imitation. An artificial diamond can be lovely but it pales when compared to the real thing.

If LOVE is not the cause of an action, that action will lack the most important ingredient. It won't hold up during challenges. It won't be able to extend as far into the world and it won't be able to accomplish all that is possible with the real thing.

When real Love becomes the motivator for all actions, then it leads to real actions that lead to more real love. We can’t wait around to hope for actions that may or may not be real that give us an experience of love. We must learn to find that love within, to nourish and cultivate it so that we have it regardless of the kinds of interactions we have with others. They are not the source of our happiness. Love is the source. Real love leads to real actions and real actions lead to more real love.

That's one to ponder and meditate upon.

If we come to understand and recognize that love within and how to cultivate it, to nourish it and to grow it, then what needed to be done has been done. Our purpose has been fulfilled.

We are "pregnant" with Love. Talk about something to celebrate!

FEELINGS, IMAGINATION, AND CREATION

I received several articles today in my email that have to do with feelings and imagination and...manifestation as well. Put them together and what have you got? "Bippity, Boppity Boo!" Remember that from the Cinderella "movie" when we were growing up? Cinderella's Fairy Godmother said that "incantation" (I guess you call it) while changing the pumpkin into a coach, Cinderella's rags into a ball gown, the mice into footmen, etc.

But all we need is feeling, imagination, and focus and we can bring into our lives what it is that we seem to what to create or bring forth or experience. Cinderella had to have the idea that she wanted to go to the ball before it could happen.

Now, at first glance, one who loves God might say that this is unwise, un-Christian, egotistical, or just plain wrong or sinful. How dare we presume to think that we mere mortals can have any say-so or power or ability that belongs strictly to God! They would say we can only have things if we "pray" and ask God and then we will get it only if He decides it is okay.

I happen to believe that God creates and experiences through, with, and in us. Within us is that push to do, say, think, and feel what our particular expression of God is suggesting to us. Yes, even the "bad" stuff that may not turn out to be something we were glad we did. Because there is some purpose for it even if we can't spot what it is. The big picture could show us but we are too small to see it - at least not the whole of it.

I have noted that more and more when I have a desire it will manifest in exactly the form that is for my highest good in exactly the appropriate time, and in the best way. It is like setting goals. Everyone knows that we can set goals and then eventually bring those goals to fruition. But when we bring God or spirituality into the equation, people get upset and think that we are trying to be better than or equal to all that God is in God's entirety.

Here's the deal, it is God's/Spirit's/The All-That-Is' (or whatever name you call the Creative Force) pleasure and intent to live out all the possibilities and potential possible in every human being. We don't have to cooperate but if we do, it is amazing what can happen.

We get ideas and if we note these ideas are usually accompanied by feelings. Now these may be wonderful or exciting or they may be feelings of fear or worry or something not so pleasant. These feelings add power through the law of attraction and sooner or later will manifest in your life physically in some experiential form. So your thoughts and imagination given a boost by your feelings can and will bring things into your life's experience. I have believed this for quite a while now but more and more am actually seeing it and experiencing it.

There are some things you cannot change. Other people have their thoughts and agendas and then there is the collective thought mass that exists as well. All we can do is to become aware of our own thoughts, desires, and feelings. Then those who are on the same “wave length” will co-create with you to bring these things about whether they are aware or not that they are doing so and you will do the same for them. Those who are not on the same wave length will not. The more you are conscious of your thoughts and feelings the more you will be aware of the workings of God/Spirit in, with, and through you. It becomes a joy to watch and to get to experience this, to be aware of it. You will learn better when you are cooperating, surrendering to Spirit and when you are resisting. But even when we resist, all things will still work together for our good and the good of others – even the stuff we don’t think was very good or the things we are ashamed of.

Thoughts create things. Feelings guide us and give power to our thoughts. Choose carefully what you think or wish/pray/ask for.

THE BIG PICTURE

I guess if I could always step back and see the whole of things, the whole of my life I would understand how beautifully everything was orchestrated and is still being orchestrated. All is and was as it should be. Even the stuff I didn't really want.

I was contemplating last night that as I look back on my life one thing has lead to the next and each one was vitally connected to the other to make up this thing called my life. I thought of how Ron was with me only seven years but that was long enough for us both to get what we needed and what we both were to do in that period of time. When he had accomplished all that he was supposed to with me and I with him, it was time for the next chapter for him and for me. I realized how true this is for all of us.

Right now, there are all kinds of wonderful things opening up to me so my work and experience here is not yet complete. I would still love to put things back as they were before Ron got sick and still have him here in the flesh with me; but, that cannot be and so I move forward each day with a little more joy and hopeful anticipation of each new day to see where the road now leads me. My writing is beginning to take off little by little and there are other opportunities now opening up for me if I but let go of what was and embrace now what is and what is to come.

Life is good. Ron used to say that a lot even when he was faced with fewer and fewer days in this life time. I join with him now in saying that life is indeed good and I give thanks for it.

And so it is