A friend, diagnosed last week with lymphoma, wrote me:  “Have you ever been in a new place that at first seems frightening, then suddenly becomes marvelous? At first you may feel a little sorry for yourself, because that is just how you are supposed to feel in a situation like that. Then suddenly everything reverses and there is no place you would rather be. It is euphoric, exciting and you just cannot wait to see what tomorrow will bring. Few people may understand that, but I know you do. This is why I love sharing some things with you. Just think how wonderful things will be in a week, a month, and so on.   God, this is a beautiful place to be and so many blessings to look forward to, to those who can see it as I know you can and I am beginning to more and more… God Bless those whose eyes are beginning to open!! Thank you for sharing your life with us and giving us the courage to share. I love hearing about your critters, your kitties, the coziness of your life…” I love that attitude.  Modern medicine is amazing.  Treatment now is less debilitating, the survival rate can be over 90%. While her thoughts will change and morph as she undergoes chemo, she is entering this new adventure with a good attitude.  She’s someone who is grateful and appreciative, and she looks for the good in every situation.  Someone like that will always be fine.

A diagnosis is just a snapshot in time
When “thinking positive” doesn’t help
Get diagnosed or not?
Why Do Spiritual People Ever Get Sick?
Doing Experimental Creat-ive Visualizations
Do you really have this or that diagnosis? Keep talking about it and you will.
Remember that modern medicine is amazing, prayer works and miracles happen every day. This is how we change a thoughtform.

“Everything in your life is there as a vehicle for your transformation. Use it.” Ram Dass
So this means everyone who rubs you the wrong way. This means the bad news you continue to watch on tv. Everything.  It’s ALL grist for the mill. Let it grind away your judgments, your angers, your fears about the future. Let it transform your life into one of golden appreciation every moment forever, no matter the circumstances.

At 5:00pm it’s not quite sundown as I finish my yoga on the new east patio.  It’s really active under the oak canopy on the lot to the east of me, squirrels chasing each other, birds flitting here and there, in and out of the lawn sprinkler and bird bath, onto the oak branches to dry and preen. My YinYang lies fatly beneath, happy to be an observer. The hooty owl is Hoot WHO who who’ing in the west woods.  My attention is drawn to the mulberry tree, where two blue jays have set up discourse.  I sneak around the corner and see they are competing with 2 bold squirrels for the ripest berries.  The squirrels ignore them.  A long black snake slithers past, they must live under the shed for warmth.  The colder it is, the slower they move.  They are our friends.  I’ve only twice seen baby rattlers here and that was 30 years ago.  I like living in harmony with the critters I am honored to share this space with.  One big happy family.

After church today I got to hang in the park with Beloved B (bryan tilford), then on to IndiaFest at the Wickham Pavilion. There was a crowd. I ran into several people I knew. I took a lap past the booths then sat in the pavilion and listened to the Indian music. My dentist, Dr.Subhash Rege, was playing the tabla. They ended with the Hare Krsna chant. A lovely day today!

Today at Unity of Melbourne Rev. Beth Daniel Head reminded that when we pray for something, we come to the altar having first forgiven anything in our lives that needs forgiveness. That’s the part lotsa folks leave outa the equation. They’ll pray for this and that but still be pissed at this one or hold a grudge against that one. It’s all related. Everything. It was a good talk!  From galpal Terri Mermis: “Interesting that the word forgiveness keeps crossing my path. I was in Barnes and Noble talking with a man who asked my opinion on forgiveness out of the clear blue. I told him I don’t have to forgive and he looked shocked.  I then went on to explain that I try to look at people and situations in such a way that there is no judgement or assumption that anything was done to me or about me to have to apply forgiveness. People are frail and flawed, it is never about me. If I look at things through divine creation, there is nothing to be forgiven unless I revert to thinking I have the right to judge the action in the first place. It is easier to apply a blanket forgiveness policy and just let others live their lives without my interference or perceived need.”

I’ve been lazy this week.  After morning meditation, I’ve been going back to bed for a few hours, sometimes checking Facebook on the iPad awhile first.  I’ll close the darkout curtains before dawn begins to show, but the mother cardinal will begin to peck on the sliding glass door two feet from my pillow as the sun rises to reflect on the glass.  I use her “tap, tap, tap” to bring myself to an awareness of my breathing, as I keep my attention focused on my third eye and breathe in and out from my heart center.  We may continue this dance for an hour or two, me drifting in and out of sleep, then I’m up and into the office.  After a few hours’ work, I went to the Melbourne Beach Farmer’s Market and bought onions, organic celery, red and yellow peppers and tomatoes. Lunch was a vegetarian beanless chili atop a little wild rice.  Continue reading →

Oh, Cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration!  Soften the ground of our being and carve out a space within us where your Presence can abide.  Fill us with your creativity So that we… may be empowered to bear the fruit of our mission.  Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with our desire.  Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish.  Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes.  Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment.  For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth power and the fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again.

Related: A Translation by Neil Douglas-Klotz

Uh, oh, so much for a musician friend’s theory he might be the reincarnation of Jim Morrison… At this article,  The Daily Mail interviewed the Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek and this is what he had to say: ’I often wonder if his death has been an elaborate charade,’ and ’Jim was a restless soul, always looking for something else in life, and even six years of success – and excess – with The Doors hadn’t been enough for him. A year earlier, he had shown me a brochure for the Seychelles and said: “Wouldn’t this be the perfect place to escape to if everyone believed you were dead?”

The Blessed One is one who has become a door to the beyond, to the unknown secrets and mysteries. And unless you become a seeker, you will go on breathing, vegetating, and you will die without even becoming aware of what this life was all about. Osho

As we fulfill a dream, another takes its place.  Sometimes life purpose changes and another dream becomes our new dream.