Monday, July 18, 2011

AFFIRMATIONS/GOALS/PRIORITIES

Last night seemed the perfect time to take a look at my list of intentions, the desires I have for my future. I like to keep everything in that written list fresh and current. Reason being I tend to design potentially powerful affirmations concerning those situations I want to create in my life. Naturally those affirmations need to be kept up to date and as lively as possible.

Funny thing, as I went down that list I discovered my priorities had changed. Those all-important number one items had slipped to number five or were completely out! I shouldn’t have been surprised. I am not the same woman I was a few months ago or perhaps even a few weeks ago.

We all change as we go through life learning, getting a slap or two and hopefully awakening to our Spirit focus with more clarity. It only makes sense that those desires we embraced yesterday or last week or last year as our all-important goals lose their luster. Thankfully over time as our goals change they have a tendency to become more inspiration driven than ego demanded. Yes, we begin to access our inner silence where all power resides and start listening with our hearts.

Perhaps it would be helpful if I explained what caused me so much introspection yesterday. For some reason I felt compelled to spend some time sorting through my clothes closet. It seemed over full. I tried on this, that and the other dress and suit becoming more and more dissatisfied. Finally I hit on the reason for rejecting nearly all the “going out” clothes.

Why? It was not that the hot weather of Tucson demanded different attire. It was not that any of those items were worn out or even unfashionable. No, the reason was that the clothing I had saved and preserved so carefully just was not “me” anymore. They physically fit just fine. The problem was they no longer spiritually fit. I changed. The outfits had not. They represented the old me not the new and improved version.

My first thought was to send all of the “stuff”, no matter how presentably clean and neat, to the thrift store. I probably should have done just that but I am a little too conservative. However, I immediately gathered up three of the most unsuitable and took them to the nearby store. They will all go there eventually, probably one or two pieces at a time as I feel able to let go of the past “me” they represent.

Change is sometimes daunting even when it involves a few pieces of clothing. I am grateful to be able to understand what I was feeling yesterday. Simply understanding gives me a path to move forward with surer, clearer, more obvious and apparent steps. I love my life. I love my work. And I want to be completely able to accept and embrace all the changes as they come.

I hope all your changes and adjustments are easy ones. But, if they are not, be grateful for the newness they bring to your life and smile anyway! It really helps.

Reverend Lois Cheney
RevLois@gmail.com

Thursday, July 7, 2011

CAGES?

Unfortunately it seems to me that we are all living in a world of cages. Holding tight to our lives we are trapped by our own ideas of right and wrong, up and down, in and out. I believe we have created individual steel-walled, reinforced mental cages. As esoteric, enlightened or spiritual as we may feel we are, for many of us it is still only occasionally that we take a chance to peek out and get a glimpse of, or a feel for, the world that others occupy.

Having taken the brief opportunity to weigh and judge the ideas and lives of others, we quickly dart back into the mental prison of our own making. Is it fear that makes us act this way? Perhaps we are fearful that our concepts are not as perfect as we perceive them. Are we fearful of the possible contamination of our minds by other points of view? Or could it possibly be that we are simply more comfortable with what we “know” than the unknown and un-experienced?

Consider this: we do know that our physical world is not at all as solid as it appears to be. Even our bodies are more air and space than anything else. Quantum physics tells us we are the ultimate in “spaciousness”. All those molecules and atoms we see as the real and solid “us” are in constant motion: grouping, regrouping, changing. So much movement happening continually that in theory any one of us could be displaying physical sickness in one nanosecond and through a focused intention on our part be well and healthy in the next instant. Change is that much a part of our reality. We and our world are malleable.

So if we acknowledge that our personal bodies are very much nonsolid and ultimately highly changeable, perhaps our ideas cannot be, should not be, solid as well. Maybe we should approach our thinking with the possibility of infinitely ranging, ever changing, and flexible thoughts rather than finite.

If we take a closer look at some of our lively nighttime dream adventures, it becomes obvious there is utterly no restriction of ideas or thoughts within that world of ours. Creativity reigns in those productions. Perhaps we might look at that level of fluidness as something to acquire or at least experiment with in daytime thought.

On a scientific level, the only way advances have occurred is through the efforts of those curious souls who were freely exploring and embracing the principle of “what if?” I believe the time has come that we must begin to see our world and our lives that way. I encourage you to bring “what if?” to your everyday method of thinking. It will not hamper your decision making. It will simply enlarge your possibilities.
For instance, what if there other ways to live, share and enjoy? What if I can accept and love others more while judging less? What if my ideas and beliefs could benefit from a good old fashioned expansion and new direction? What if I could help mother earth in a hundred different ways? What if I could see others from a higher point of view? What if I can acknowledge that Today is as Wonderful, Useful and Beautiful as Tomorrow?

Always remember when those new ideas come, write them down. Keep a journal. The simple act of writing your ideas in detail allows you to access growth-filled power and energy for the expansion of their innate concepts.
As you are reading this, know that I wish you, your family, your friends and your loved ones the dual blessings of great wisdom and all pervasive love.
RevLois@gmail.com