Your donations are our thanks .
We appreciate you!

Horizons Magazine

More about Andrea

JANUARY 1998
As I sit here writingto you, the weather is sunny and mild, I have
Handel's Messiah playing softly in the outer office and Cosmo,
the cyber-cat, is snoozing on my lap. I just made some hot
cinnamon-apple tea and its fragrance here on the desk is enticing!
 I love to be surrounded by the subtlest of soft sounds and sweet
smells, it lulls me into an easy, relaxed mood, and that's when all
my best ideas come to me. How great it is to begin another new year,
just think, another whole new 12 months, another 365 days to fill with whatever it is I want, and whatever I never got around to last year. How about you? “Easy for you to say,” you think, “who's going to pay for it?” Well, you might just be surprised to find that what you want is closer to being available than you think. You don't need to take a giant leap into a new life, you don't have to quit your job, leave your mate or disown your family before happiness comes; you can ease yourself into some new patterns, little by little, step by step. And you'll find as you finish each tiny step, you've been given all the resources you needed to get there.

RECOUNTING THE PAST
Let's take a little stroll down Memory Lane ~ take a look at yourself last January and then again last December; what changes happened to you? Look at your private life, your family, your home, your job, your education, your dreams and visions. What did you accomplish that you're not giving yourself enough credit for? What happened that you're still beating yourself up for? In what way do you have more freedom? In what way do you have more structure? What had you been asking for that finally you received in 1997?

WE FORGET WHAT WE ASK FOR
Unless you keep a journal of your thoughts and ideas, you might fail to notice that you've been getting what you've asked for all along, the problem is it often comes after you've turned your attention to something else! << giggle - doncha' hate when that happens? >> So for 1998, try keeping a journal of your thoughts and dreams, you don't have to do it every single day, just keep it handy and write a few lines here and there when you think about it, and periodically look through it and follow up on whatever ideas and thoughts you've written down. It will begin to be abundantly clear to you that your thoughts are attracting your experience to you, and with that you naturally begin to get a greater sense of your own power. That's true liberation!

YOU CAN EAT AN ELEPHANT ONE BITE AT A TIME
Don't think of it as a big, giant process, this re-making of the “old” you into the “new” you. Just begin to be a little more conscious of your thoughts, words and choices as you go about your day. Try out little ways to make your heart sing, take a few more steps to becoming more genuine and real. The difference it makes in your life will astound you!
BECOMING MORE REAL
So how do I become more genuine and more real? Well, the first step is always to become conscious of how you are right now, for better and for worse. Just become the observer and notice how you think and speak and act. Do you act and react in a way that conveys your true nature to others? Do you like the image that is being projected? How would you like to appear to others? What steps can you take to become what you wish others to see you as? You can stop in this moment and make the decision to become a kinder, more compassionate, understanding, independent and self-sufficient person, and once you make that decision, the Universe will send you lots of lessons to help you get there!

NO EMBELLISHMENT
Another step is to begin to speak only the truth, and to speak it only when it's kind and helpful. Many feel they have to puff up whatever they say to others, as if the truth of the matter was not enough. They embellish every story they relate, and in doing so they waste everyone's time and diminish their own purpose, because they themselves fail to see the extraordinary value in the “truth” of the matter as it is. What is, IS and there is value in everything that IS.

WHO AE WE TRYING TO IMPRESS?
I went to a meeting the other night that a member had gone to great lengths to urge and remind many to attend, saying he'd like 100 people there. So, when it was time for the speaker, and everyone was sitting around asking when he would begin, the member makes the announcement that “it'll be a few minutes, people are circling the parking lot looking for a parking place.” After a moment, I stepped outside and there was no one in sight, which he'd already been out there and knew.

WHAT CONSTITUTES ENOUGH?
So here were 40 people, patiently waiting while this pointless charade goes on. Why was 100 the magic number, and why weren't those who were there at the proper time enough? What would be the point of having 100 people there if only 40 were interested in what was being said? And of those 40, what if only 5 came away with any real understanding of what was offered, isn't that enough? I think that's MORE than enough.

WE ALWAYS HAVE THE PROPER AUDIENCE IN FRONT OF US
The ones we need to love and learn from are always right in front of us, and accordingly we should speak our truth and give our all at all times, not hold up those who are present in our lives under the guise of waiting for the “correct” one(s) to come along. When I'm giving a class or leading a discussion, I don't care if just one other person is there, that is exactly who is meant to be there and I give them my all. I've gone to many classes only to find when I got there that “since only 3 people showed up, we'll reschedule it so more can attend.” Don't they get it? If you've got a message, start giving it out and you'll attract everyone that needs to get that message from you. And it's irrelevant if you give it to 5 or 500, what is relevant is how deeply is your message understood?

CUTTING THE CORD
We lost some important teachers last year - on the Space Coast, Sally Grossman of House of Books in Merritt Island, and author of Urda, and Art Sellers, founder of the Creative Insight Workshops both passed away and will be missed by many. Oftentimes the departing of great teachers heralds in a new wave of empowerment in the community, and that is happening right now. Former students of Art Sellers who admittedly in the past felt they still had a long way to go, are experiencing an inner awakening of their own power. While Art never asked to be a guru, he helped many find their voice, and many felt emotionally indebted to him for their renewed sense of self. I envision many of these students becoming teachers themselves. And it's always the ones who think they are unworthy that are the most worthy, and vice versa.

IF YOU LOOK UP, YOU LOOK DOWN
A friend of mine had a good insight, she was recounting a vision she'd had and in it she was being handed something on a silver platter. She noted that if the platter is raised so you have to reach for what's on it, it spills. How much easier to reach across for it, at the same level. We are all magnificent and powerful beings, in varying stages of awareness of that fact. Ma Yoga Shakti says, “Stoop to conquer. Forgive and adapt. You win when you lose.” Rather than looking up to great teachers and looking down on those who don't yet know, look across at everyone as the equal you are.

YOU HAVE POWER RIGHT NOW
Know that you are a powerful, extraordinary person right now, and comparison with others serves no purpose. There will always be those whom you believe accomplish more than you do and always those whom you believe accomplish less. Just doing your best in every moment ensures that you're fulfilling your purpose perfectly! And every single one among us is perfect, with no exception.

Enjoy our offering this month. Hari Om.