On Facebook, I quoted Joyce Meyer’s  “One of the greatest blessings in the world is to be able to be happy even when things in life are not going the way we planned.”  Real life galpal Lisa Mason reponded: “Your post truly hit home with me and I wanted to share something my daughter asked me to write. It’s a condensed version of my story (of leaving mainstream society and running off to live in Costa Rica):

MY OFF DAYS:  At this stage of my life, most days I’m balanced, centered and grounded, but let me repeat… Most Days.  I’m over 50 years old and I can honestly say that I have truly “lived” my life. I can also say that I have questioned, contemplated, experienced, analyzed and most importantly learned, a great deal this far in my life. And of course, I still have so much to learn.   Continue reading →

This morning I hit the floor running, doing final layout for the April Horizons Magazine.  I spent the morning fielding phone calls, downloading emails and creating ads.  I went to the post office and the bank, then began thinking about dinner.  I decided on a vegetarian chili, made with organic celery, onions, peppers, yellow squash and kale. It’s been overcast and drizzling all day.  I took a bowl of hot chili out onto the back porch so I could watch the action in the mulberry bush:  squirrels vs. blue jays.  I’d stopped to buy marshmallows since I heard the temp will drop again tonight.  I can cook them in my chimenea!  I thought just yesterday that I’d really like to move the chimenea onto the east patio, but then I couldn’t use it in the rain.  I’m glad I didn’t move it.  I do like it on the back porch, it’s more private and I’ve got an outdoor rocker there. I just checked and my little under-the-eves-stash of kindling and firewood stayed dry from today’s rain – yay!  We’re on for marshmallows for tonight’s fire!

A fellow devotee back in the ashram days used to interrupt his meditation to chide each new chela who entered the temple too loudly.  “Be quiet, we are meditating!” The guru corrected him later, saying if one were truly focused in meditation, he would not be disturbed by anything around him.  I think of this anytime I hear sharp neighboring voices when I’m out wandering my property.  I take the vocal cues as triggers to go into meditation and wish for them what I wish for myself: I want a happy life with friends who support my dreams, with all of us having as much as we need forevermore, however the universe wants to bring it to us.  So far, so good.

In a recent reading with Domino, he was concerned that he lost his job when he and his wife split, as it was her business.  He’s without transportation or driver license, and due to the nature of the split, no job reference. He feels three years just went down the drain.  I told him nothing could be farther from the truth.  She just set him free.  Getting and keeping a job through what is attracted by someone else’s consciousness and karma will never be yours to keep.   If something is not yours by right of consciousness, it’s not yours for long.  It will drop away when the momentum stops being fueled.  What this means is that now Domino will attract what is his own doing, what he owes no one other than himself for delivering to him.  He can attract something to be proud of, something he did not have to rely on anyone else to motivate and make happen for him.  He’s now got the freedom to  man up and show everyone what he knows he is capable of.  These are exciting times indeed. Anything is possible and anyone can do it.

RELATED:  Alan Cohen on Right of Consciousness 

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 →