I Am A Finder Of Things

I am a finder of things.

I find my own things and the misplaced things of others too. It's not by ransacking drawers and frantically searching for the items that this is accomplished.

I sit down, I get quiet, and I surrender to the Divine.

I let go of thoughts that arise and also the desire to go ransacking and frantically searching. I remember that there is nothing lost in the Universe. I may even say the incantation of, "Tony Tony come around, what once was lost must now be found."
 
Then I let my body go where it wants to go without any thought process, logic, or questioning. I arrive at my destination and look around. I feel around energetically, with no thinking involved and then suddenly, voila, I find the lost item!

This is something I have learned to pay close attention to. It is that within me (Source Energy) that knows. It is my innate wisdom. It knows what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, and it does not involve thinking or analyzing.

As I practice tuning into that frequency, I know that I am guided, directed, and sustained by my Source. I find comfort in that knowing and it soothes the soul. I can do this anytime too - sit down, get quiet, surrender to the Divine, and listen.

That is my super power.  What's yours?

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!

The Benefits of Spiritual Coaching: Clarifying Confusion

Change your thinking, change your life you heard one day.  Ok, great, you thought to yourself, I am ready.  You took CSL101, Foundations class and became a member of the Center.  Then you took the Power of Your Word course and began to use our form of affirmative prayer, praying and praying often, for yourself and others.  Ultimately, you began to spend more time consciously aware of your communion with the Divine through prayer in all areas of your life.

One of my teachers, Adyashanti, is a big proponent of meditation, and for extended periods of time too!  He once told me that meditation is easy when you’re on “the cushion,” in the privacy of your own home without the distractions of the external world.  Your REAL meditation begins “off the cushion,” out in the world. So there it is!

I have found the same to be true for prayer.  In my conscious and sacred time of communion (on the cushion) with the Divine, prayer is deliciously different.  REAL prayer begins when I am out in the world (off the cushion), still delicious and an entirely different experience.  Can I access that sacred, prayerful state in all that I think, in all that I say and in all that I do?  Even in the face of adversity?  Even in the face of THAT?  Yes, especially in the face of THAT.

Onto one of the pitfalls, or common areas of confusion that I have discovered on my own and in the lives of others who I have coached on the spiritual path.  And that is in thinking that we need only pray, and then wait.  Here’s the absurdity with that...if your prayer includes the desire for transformation in relationship, maybe you are seeking that right and perfect romantic partner, your soulmate.  So you pray and then spend your spare time sitting on the couch in front of the television or reading a book alone...thinking the soulmate is going to materialize in your living room or come knocking on your door.  I’m not saying that is not a possibility, or that it cannot happen that way.  I am saying that there may be work for you to do out in the world, off the cushion, as it were.  Such as saying yes to attend a party your friend is throwing or attending other events you are drawn to say yes to attending and then being open to the possibilities the Universe provides.  

And believe me, the Universe ALWAYS provides.

We have a saying that you may have heard in Religious Science as follows: “treat and move your feet.”  This is to say pray, and then do the work necessary to create an environment wherein your prayers may be answered.  If you wanted to grow corn, you wouldn’t plant your seeds in the carpet of your living room.

Go get ‘em!  Much Love to you on your path.

The Benefits of Spiritual Coaching: Opening to Love Through Prayer

When you find the right spiritual coach for you and begin to have spiritual coaching sessions you will receive prayer at the end of your session.  How can the prayers of another person transform you?  In ministerial school we were taught that it has to do with quantum physics and non-locality.  What’s known here, can also be known there, and a quantum leap can occur.  

I lived in a small country town growing up with lots of fields of weeds.  In the summertime there was always a big fire scare.  Some of my early childhood memories are of watching my neighbors standing on their rooftops and hosing them down so that the fire would be less likely to jump over and burn down their homes.  I always thought it was an odd thing to do.  Until I witnessed it myself.  

There was a fire burning on the right side of the street through the field of weeds and and then suddenly, just before my eyes, the field to the left side of the street was ablaze.  While there were other elements likely present such as just the right amount of wind and the weather being just hot enough outside for the leap to occur.  My point here is that it was not continuous.  A leap occurred from one thing to the next.

At some point in time there was one spark at exactly the right moment which caused a leap across the time and space of the road to ignite itself in the field on the other side of the road.  I believe the very same to be true when being prayed for/with by another.

Sometimes we can be so involved and attached to our situation, issue, condition, etc., that it is all that we can focus on.  Like when you have a sore throat and keep swallowing to see if it is still sore.  Discussing with a spiritual coach can assist you in opening up to the Love that you are.  Your coach will see the Truth of Love and  assist, guide and direct you to see just beyond the facts of your experience into something more real than anything in physical form.  

Additionally, you might begin to pray on you own.  When you pray about anything you are communing with an invisible presence that you know is real.  This holy time creates an opening in your heart and mind to see things differently, detaching you from the story around it all and propelling you up to higher ground. It’s where you belong.  It’s what you deserve.  Love,  that is.

The Benefits of Spiritual Coaching: Why Spiritual Coaching?

Spiritual Coaching is a powerful experience that can assist you in the transformation of your life.  There is an unlimited supply for Good in the Universe and you ought to have it.  Whether your current experience has you at rock bottom in your life or at the top of your game, there’s room for growth and expansion in all areas.  You may say, “my life is so great, I have no complaints and no desire for transformation.”  To which I respond “if there were a 30 foot pot filled with gold just in front of you, would you not want to walk over and get some of it?”

This Universe is a goldmine and you did not land in the Earth suit as an individual expression of the Divine to simply accept what is even if it is un-desirable.  Don’t get me wrong, acceptance is a powerful tool which I will delve into later.  Thriving is how I believe your life ought to be and ought continue to be.

Sometimes we can get stuck in the rut of our day to day lives focused on getting through the workday, feeding the family, grocery shopping, picking up the kids from the babysitter, laundry, housework, banking, treating our partners with attention, love and affection and getting enough sleep to wake up the next morning and do it all again.  When our lives are so busy we may forget that we are creating our futures in the now.  By creating our future in the now we live into that future, thereby experiencing it here and now.  Kind of like planning for a vacation.

One hour per week of spiritual coaching allows for time to connect with the deeper parts of yourself that can’t be easily contacted in the busy-ness of your life.  It’s an opportunity to really think about the experience you desire for yourself in your life, opening up the creative channels and creating a shift in consciousness that will move you from surviving to thriving.

A spiritual coach can guide you on this inward journey, providing tools to use throughout the week and accountability to ensure that you are headed in the direction of your dreams.  Your spiritual coach will also assist you in uncovering hidden fears and beliefs and work with you on creating new beliefs through prayer, affirmations, spiritual practices, and chants created specifically for you.