Love Everyone and Don't Get Angry!

I just finished reading the new book by Ram Dass, "Polishing the Mirror."  Within the book he shares the story of a time when he was in India with some of his devotees, and his guru, Maharaji-ji.  He went to India to flee from the Western culture only to find himself in the midst of the western culture that exists within India.  This angered him.  He was so upset that he locked himself in a room.  When his Western devotees came to see him, he angrily told them to go away.  Within a short amount of time he alienated the entire group of people who were there to see him.

Ram Dass was upset and confused.  His guru constantly told him "tell the truth and don't get angry," but the truth was that Ram Dass was angry.  One night in an angry fit, he threw a plate of food to the ground.

Maharaji-ji then wanted to know what was troubling him.  Ram Dass said he couldn't stand all of those people and he couldn't even stand himself.  He hated everyone.  Maharji-ji responded with "Love everyone and don't get angry."  Ram said, "But I don't love everyone."  Maharji-ji got nose to nose with him and said, "Love everyone and tell the truth."  Ram started to say, "But..."Then he realized what Maharaji-ji was really saying to him, which was this:

When you finish being who you think you are (unable to love everyone), this is who you will be (love everyone).  He thought he was somebody who could not love everyone and tell the truth.  Maharaji-ji said, "when you give that one up, I am still here, and the game is very simple.  Love everyone and tell the truth."

Is it just me, or does anger feel like a hostile takeover within?  I am grateful for spiritual evolution and the ability to identify anger and allow it to pass by like a taxi cab on the street, rather than getting in the cab and going for a long and bumpy ride!

Most of our anger comes as the result of things not turning out the way we think they should have turned out.

When anger arises, you may find it simple to move past it by saying to yourself - "Love everyone and don't get angry."

Or take these additional steps to move through anger and liberate yourself from the bondage of it:

1. Feel your anger fully.
2. Set a specific amount of time to rant about it.
3. Take responsibility - What could you have done better?
4. Put yourself in the shoes of the other person (or people, organizations, institutions).
5. Wear a rubber band on your wrist and flick it when you begin to obsess on angry thoughts.
6. Return to loving everyone once again.

I believe that if you look hard enough you will find something to love in the eyes of another, and if you can focus on the part that you love, the anger will fall away naturally and immediately, if you allow it to.

Love everyone and don't get angry.

Change Your Lipstick Shade, Change Your Life: A Woman's Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Last Thursday I was walking past a Sephora at the mall when I was pulled in like a magnet.  Without being mentally aware of where I was going within the store, I found myself standing in front of a plethora of makeup and I suddenly become aware of a compelling desire...no, it was a need...a compelling need for a new, bright, happy lipstick shade.

"MUST HAVE," I thought.  And so the search began.

My eyes moved quickly over the various shades of lipstick in their diverse array of tubes of different widths and lengths.  I was delighted by the numerous options before me but I didn't see what I was looking for just yet.  I continued along the lovely smorgasboard of makeup when I saw one jump out at me.  If it were a snake, it would have bit me.

On that day I went from this shade of lipstick:

To this shade of lipstick:

I was so thrilled about my new lipstick shade that I put it on right there in the store.  I was reminded that this is how my meditation practice often occurs for me.  I LOVE to meditate.  I mean LOVE it!  Sometimes I am drawn like a magnet to take that time out just for me to go within.  I realize that as I sit down to go within I never know how deep or far I will go with my meditation until I am in the midst of it.  I always go with an intention though, and it is usually to strengthen the muscle of non-attachment, surrender, or release, such that I can be more present in each moment, which always leads to greater peace and happiness for me.

My new lipstick shade had an impact on everyone I came in contact with that day, including myself.  That's right, my attitude was a little more cheery because I knew that I was wearing a new, bright shade, and it was a noticeable, beautiful color.

I have heard that if we want things to be different, we've got to do things differently.  When we first awaken to the Truth of our existence, we are careful with the thoughts we think, as they become our words.  As awakened beings who continue to evolve and blossom ever more each day like a flower, we have the awareness that our actions are a result of the thoughts we have had and the words we have spoken.  Now we can use our actions to altar, boost, or enhance our thinking (or mental attitude) which is a fun spiritual tool.  So ladies, as you travel along the path of enlightenment,  and you find yourself stuck, or lacking the enthusiasm you were used to once having, a new lipstick shade is just what you need.

Change your lipstick shade, change your life.

Much LOVE & Many Blessings,

Rev, Elizabeth Rowley

5 Fun & Easy Spiritual Practices

5 quick and easy spiritual practices that you can do daily:

1. Pranayama Breathing (extension of the breath)
1. Inhale through your nose for 6 seconds.
2. Exhale through your mouth for 6 seconds.
3. Do this 10 times. 
2. Practice Random Kindness
1. Pay someone a compliment (nice shirt, nice tie, love your shoes).
2. Hold the door open for the person walking in behind you or exiting from the same door in front of you.
3. Post a lovely comment to someone’s facebook wall for absolutely no reason.
3. Gratitude List
1. Stop whatever you are doing and write down 5 things you are grateful for.   (Stop reading this and do it now!)
2. Before you begin your day every morning.
3. Just before you fall asleep at night.
4. Start Your Very Own “Brag Book”
1. Carry it with you and write down every compliment you receive.
2. Refer back to brag book when you forget how completely AWESOME you are!
3. You will develop a greater awareness of the constant influx of your good.
5. Higher Power On the Hour
1. Set an alarm on your phone or in Outlook to make time for your higher power every hour on the hour for one day.
2. Stop whatever it is your are doing and make conscious contact with the Divine.
3. Get back to work!

We have a 5 point spiritual practice in Religious Science of Prayer, Meditation, Sacred Service, Circulation and Education.  I believe with the new organization we also have three additional practices being added and those are visioning, mindfulness and the creative process.  These are definitely important to be practiced within every spiritual community and in our individual lives too.

However, in order to continue to grow and expand your mind and consciousness, I believe that a balanced practice plus a variety of other practices sprinkled in will open you up to greater joy, happiness and possibility in your life.

I have discovered that when I do the exact same physical exercise daily my body becomes efficient and even though I have a killer workout routine, my body is no longer responding the way it did when I first began the routine.  Time to switch it up.  My doctor said that in the case of exercise you want your body to be inefficient because this is what causes muscles to grow and fat to burn.  I believe the same is true for Spiritual Practice.

I have also found that if I use the same shampoo in my hair over and again and then one day I switch it up, my hair responds in a wonderfully new and different way...usually a new shine with more volume.

Variety is the spice of life.  Please leave a comment here if you have additional spiritual practice ideas.

Namaste!

Pinterest: The Future of Vision Boarding!

Click Here to Check Out My Pinterest Vision Board Sample 

Pinterest is like India.  Sensory overload.  

From the moment I stepped off of the plane when I arrived in India back in 2008 my senses were overwhelmed.   I'd seen things I had never seen before nor could ever have imagined I might see.  

People everywhere.  Men with suitcases stacked 3 high on their heads, women wearing bright colorful saris with large hoops in their noses, people carrying bushels of plants stacked 4 feet high, camels pulling obscenely large overstuffed carts of goods, automobiles stacked with 20 people outside of them clinging to bumpers and fenders,  monkeys, cows, dogs, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws - all on the same road,  roundabouts gone wild, chanting until 3 am, Krishna flutes heard while drifting off to sleep at night...prayers, ritual and rites of passage...in the river, on the street, in the temples, at the dobiwala.

The Ganges crowded with people---filling their buckets to the rim with holy water for the day, people swimming, groups conducting rites of passage, repeating prayers while dousing themselves with river water, people doing laundry, brushing their teeth, swimming, laughing, saying goodbye to the remains of loved ones, gondolas, arati puja ceremonies, children selling goods.

I had the same visceral response that I had to India when I began to explore Pinterest,  the epic social pin board.  It is a virtual vision board playground for you to capture images you love which you can look at daily, from anywhere, wherever you are.  If you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend you check it out.  Be sure to carve out some time for yourself to dream weave and capture images that sing to your soul.

I started my virtual vision board on Pinterest today and will continue to add images.  Make it a spiritual practice by putting on some meditative music, set your intention and then find your photos and pin them to your virtual board. 

Your future is waiting for you!!

Check mine out for inspiration here: http://pinterest.com/revelizabeth/vision-board-2012-beyond/

Happy Tuesday!

There, there, there

I was recently reading a book and there was a snippet of a husband, wife, and two children on a picnic in a meadow of long grass and large trees.  Their young son was playing with his older sister while enjoying a popsicle when it suddenly slipped out of his hands and fell into some mud and grass and then he began to cry.  


The parents rushed over to him and the father placed his hands on the shoulders of the young boy and said, "there, there, there.  Not to worry son, we will get you another one."  The boy continued to cry.  The mother kissed his hand where the popsicle was held just moments before and noticed that the lingering taste of the orange popsicle remained on his fingers.  She had the boy put his fingers in his mouth as she said "there, there, there."  His eyes lit up joyously and he said, "popsicle."  The father smiled.

This reminded of a time when I was a young girl, riding my shiny new red Schwinn bicycle.  the kind with the big banana seat and streams of colorful plastic strips at the ends of the handlebars.  I crashed and scraped up my knees pretty badly and was sobbing as I approached my mom.  She put the bike down, took a good look at my knees then held me closely and said, "there, there, there."

I was comforted by her embrace and those simple words stopped my tears and I knew that I was ok.

Sometimes uninvited guests stop in for a visit like fear, doubt and worry. In the past I have either tried to resist them or over compensate in one way or another to avoid them,  not see them, or not give them any power.

Then I had a revelation.  Rather than resist or overcompensate in an attempt to release these unwelcome guests of fear, doubt, and worry, or other, I now look at them directly; as if they were the young boy who just dropped his popsicle, and I say, "there, there, there."  Taking great joy in it and experiencing the freedom of watching the sated feelings dissolve back into the nothingness from whence they came.

There, there, there.

I can't do it, I'm too old.  There, there, there.

But I don't know how.  There, there, there.

What if I fail?  There, there, there.

I am frightened and scared.  There, there, there.

I'm afraid I won't be accepted.  There, there, there.

What if it doesn't work out as planned?  There, there, there.

There, there, there.



Have the best day ever!

Summer Solstice: Maximum Potential & Maximum Growth Opportunity

"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn." [Ralph Waldo Emerson]

Yesterday was the summer solstice.  This is the one day in June when the Sun is at its highest path through the sky, marking the longest day of the year.  Because the day is so long the Sun does not rise exactly in the east, but rises to the north of east and sets to the north of west allowing it to be in the sky for a longer period of time.

It is said that this is the time when the most potential and maximum growth are simultaneously occurring together.  I checked the sunset and sunrise tables and it looks like we have a couple more lengthy days of light ahead of us before we start moving in the other direction.  The spring has given way to the full force of summer while harvest time remains merely a few months away.  

Did you plant some seeds of possibility?  It is not too late to take advantage of this annual cosmic occurrence and bring the natural powers of Nature into your own personal experience.  I love being backed up by the Universe, it’s a mighty power and force to align with.  So what are you waiting for?  What do you want to see manifest in your Life at harvest time on September 22nd, the fall equinox, and shortest day of the year?  

Set your intention, plant seeds of possibility and be ready at harvest time, remembering that the creation of a thousand forests exists in one acorn!  

Speaking of potential, did you know that “A standard 7 1/4-inch pencil can draw a line 35 miles long, write 45,000 words and absorb 17 sharpenings before becoming an unusable two-inch nub?” [Beth Leibson, in Reader's Digest]

Or that if your senses are working normally that you can “smell one drop of perfume diffused through a three-room apartment?”  [John D. McGervey and Bill Sones, in Buffalo (N.Y.) News Magazine]

Happy Solstice My Friends!

The Inner Kingdom: Eddie Would Go

This blog post is dedicated to my brother, Don who lives in Hawaii.

I visited Hawaii several years ago and saw the very same bumper sticker on cars, on walls of buildings, on posters on telephone poles, and spray painted on fences with the following words: “Eddie Would Go.”

My curiosity was getting the better of me and I wondered to myself, “who is Eddie, and where would he go?”  I began asking people and there seemed to be love in the hearts of many about this Eddie dude.  At the airport on my way back to the “mainland,” I saw a book titled “Eddie Would Go,” by Stuart Holmes.  I bought the book and read it quickly.  Eddie Aikau was a Hawaiian lifeguard, surfer and now a hero.  

Eddie was very well known for his lifeguard post at Waimea Bay on the island of Oahu.  The surf break at Waimea was significant in the development of big wave surfing, reaching 20 feet at times, and now home to major surf contests like the Quicksilver Big Wave Invitational.  Surfers fly in from all over the world where they wait and see if the waves are large enough to hold the contest.  If not, everyone goes home and returns the next year.

Eddie was always the first one to paddle out to the big waves where others remained on the beach scared.  Tourists and inexperienced surfers often found themselves in trouble out in the pounding surf of Waimea Bay and, of course, Eddie would go and rescue them.

I love the spiritual inspiration of Eddie Aikau.  I might consider the 20 foot waves at Waimea Bay part of the inner kingdom, a place where not many dare to navigate.  

I have been sensing a call to go deeper lately and as I do, I imagine Eddie Aikau for my inspiration.  I sense a place within me that is still unchartered, more unknown area for me to navigate.  

Sometimes taking a deep plunge into the depths of the soul can seem like staring at a 20 foot wave, being beckoned to dive in and give it a shot.  I’m going to go for it...not surfing 20 foot waves, but surfing the depths of my soul without fear.  Eddie would go.     

Let's go!

Cast Your Vote Today and Every Day!

I recently watched the documentary film "I AM" and I loved it!  I was particularly fond of the footage on the birds who flock together and travel around in formation through the sky.   This is one of my most favorite things to witness in nature.  I often get to see them while commuting which always makes the drive worthwhile.

In the documentary, Shadyac mentions that each bird in the formation is casting their vote in every moment to continue along with the rest of the formation.  It is their choice in each moment to continue on or to part ways.  

I remember this also from the documentary film "Winged Migration" in 2001 that some actually do choose to part ways.  After parting ways, some have a heck of a time finding their way, while others seem to have discovered new groups to hang out with, or better climate conditions and shorter migration distances.

"We cast a vote each day by what we do and don't do." [Shadyac, I AM]  I'd even go as far as to say we are casting a vote in each and every moment.

So I invite you to consider this week, the vote you cast in every moment as your personal choice on how to live your life.

Cosmic Forgiveness: Venus to Transit the Sun Today

I was invited to a party this evening to safely view the Venus transit which is said to occur between 6 PM and 9 PM.  I am excited about this event and will definitely attend the party.  The Venus transit occurs when the planet passes between the sun & the earth creating a dark spot on the sun limiting the light from getting thru in that particular spot to us earthlings.

I looked at some images on the web of a previous Venus transit and they

reminded of a quote I once heard by Marianne Williamson that “un-forgiveness is like a dark spot on the heart that the light cannot get to.”

I have decided that I'm going to forgive Venus this evening and allow it to have safe passage between my planet and the sun.  Smile.

If you get the chance, you may want to view this once every 125 year, predictable phenomenon between 6 PM-9 PM this evening.

Perhaps you might join me in using this opportunity to forgive in planetary proportion by choosing one person, place, organization, situation or experience in which you have been secretly harboring resentment toward, creating a dark spot on your heart where the light cannot get to.  

Then project that out onto the planet Venus and watch (safely) as it transitions between the earth and the sun until only light remains.  In the silence of our own minds, raising and praising it all in the name of Love!  

Maybe we can even go a step further and project every ounce of un-forgiveness in our hearts onto it, rather than one, and then when the spot is no longer viewable, grin from ear to ear and feel the freedom!

If you are unable to safely view this phenomenon, perhaps simply knowing in your heart that the transition is occurring, forgiveness is occurring, you can bless it and call it good, for it didn't come to stay.

I call this epic forgiveness!  It's cosmic!

Namaste!

Prometheus - Sleek Thriller or Spiritual Lesson?

There’s a new film called Prometheus coming to theaters on Friday, June 8th.  When I think of Prometheus I think of the Greek God known for his witty intelligence who stole fire from Zeus, and was then punished by him for doing so and bound to a rock.  So perhaps this is not a sci-fi thriller, but about being bound to a rock for what you know.

Well I am sure you’ve heard the cliche: “you can’t un-know what you know.”  As we continue along our spiritual path, as we become aware of things new, we begin to make choices based on our new understanding.  Suddenly we may be faced with making a tough choice that will lead us into the unknown...and we become tempted to choose to go the other way, the old way, the way of the known, for the safety and security it offers us. And then we are bound to a rock.  

Where in your life might you be bound to a rock, like Prometheus in the photo above?  Eventually Hercules comes along to free Prometheus.  We can’t afford to wait around for Hercules to free us, my friends.  We must free ourselves and courageously forge ahead into the unknown.

What new choice can you make today that will unbind you from that rock and propel you into the direction of your dreams?

I hope to see this film directed by Ridley Scott, written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof; in spite of it being a thriller.

The Benefits of Spiritual Coaching: Oneness Does NOT Equal Sameness!

Another remarkable benefit of having a spiritual coach is that they can help to clarify any confusion about Spiritual Principles which may arise along one’s path of spiritual awakening.  

Often times our brains get busy trying to understand and make sense of Spiritual principles intellectually while the body is unknowingly retuning itself to the vibrational match of a newly (re)introduced eternal verity.  Something which was always known, but at some point became unknown or hidden, as the result of the conditioned experiences of one’s life.

What I have learned along my personal Spiritual path is that my body often gets it long before my brain does.  Then when the time is right, the spark occurs followed by a resonant mental understanding, followed by a heartfelt sense of grace and knowing.  Magic.

“Oneness does not equal sameness.”  Consider the simple hindu greeting and salutation upon meeting or the valediction upon parting ways of “Namaste.”  Namaste literally translates as “I bow to you.”  It also has the deeper spiritual meaning that the life force, the divinity, the Self or the God in me is the same in all. “Namaste - the God in me honors the God in you.”

So honoring the God in another person is becoming aware that we are all made of the same stuff.  But we are not identical expressions of the stuff!  Wouldn’t that be boring?  A bunch of me’s or a bunch of you’s walking the planet and nobody else but you, or me?  Spooky thought.

I had an experience of embodying oneness at a 5 night silent retreat with one of my favorite enlightened guys, Adyashanti.  It’s hard to describe the experience without sounding woo-woo or cheapening it but I am going to give it a shot here anyway.  

There were 400+ attendees on this retreat and we were four days deep into the container of silence.  In the second silent sitting of the afternoon I opened my eyes suddenly, looked around the room and noticed that everyone was together in the same silent container, observing the same things like thoughts, coughing, peace, body, mind - through different eyes in different bodies.  Suddenly I was hovering above the crowd, then I felt as if I were looking through the eyes of the person next to me, then before me, then the person across the room to the right, and then across the room to the left.  

I remember shaking my head quickly in an attempt to wake my brain up.  I have the subtle memory of attempting to get back into my body or brain and I couldn’t seem to locate me.  The head shaking was enough to wake up my brain and I said “WOAH” to myself silently in my head and closed my eyes again.  See, it sounds weird when I put it to paper.  But it happened and I recognized that the magnitude of the realization for me at that time, in where I was spiritually, was entirely too intense for me to reside in for more than a few seconds.

So the great paradox, the fine line of realizing this eternal verity presents the same dilemma as many other realizations on this path which is that we are in fact spiritual beings having a human experience.  God in form, individualized, unique expressions of the Divine.  As long as we are having this human experience we must honor both, the Oneness, the Divinity in me that is the Divinity in you, and our uniqueness.  

I’m a 5’3”, 40 year old, female, caucasian, with brown hair, hazel eyes, and athletic.  You may be a 5’8”, 22 year old,  male, person of color, with brown hair, brown eyes, and not athletic.  That’s what makes this life one thrilling adventure, our oneness and our individuality.  

So we honor the Divinity within one another, and at the same time we honor the uniqueness of one another as the individualized expressions of the Divine that we are.  We cannot honor one without the other.  To do so is to bypass the human experience and pretend as if it is not happening, which if you think about it, seems kind of silly!

Adyashanti once told me, “Elizabeth, you must allow your spiritual heart to marry your human heart.”  I was so deeply in love with the Spiritual nature of Life that I forgot that the gift for me was the human experience.

Affectionate awareness is what he called it.  I honor the Divinity within you that is you, and simultaneously honor the uniqueness, the individual expression of the Divine AS you!

In closing, A Spiritual coach can assist one in navigating, understanding, and embodying principles such as this.

Namaste.