I Say YES To My Good!

Today I say yes to my good.

I move through this day with great jubilation, giving thanks for the many blessings in my life, both seen and unseen. This is my choice.

The more good I see, the more good becomes available to me. I find the good everywhere.

As I name my good I see all around me I feel deep appreciation for all that life is.

I also understand that there are invisible blessings on their way which I don't even know about yet. Wow!

This fills me with great joy as I am steeped in possibility while anticipating my good.

I Release All Fear

I have learned to release unwanted thoughts of fear, doubt or worry quickly.

In my minds eye, I wrap the thought in a bubble. I then place the thought bubble in the palm of my hand.

Then I blow the bubble off of my hand.

 If another unwanted thought arises, I do the same.

What I'm left with is the eternal, unborn reality of the present moment, liberated from the bondage of fear, doubt or worry.

From here I'm free to create on the canvas of mind, and my next thought is always anchored in Love.

Open Hearts See Love Everywhere

One day I was doing household chores. It was just an ordinary day. As I was moving from one room to the next I heard the following words whispered in my head: "I love you. I love you. I love you." It was my own voice.

I stopped what I was doing and sat down on the floor to allow this love to wash over and through me. In that moment I knew that I had changed.

This new voice of unconditional love was different than the predominant voices heard in the past which I had grown all too familiar with. 

This was the soft voice of a gentle, loving Spirit within me. 

As I began to court this Love, it shifted my view of the world, and it continues to change me, even today. 

Today I court Divine Love. I let this love wash over and through me and I am transformed by it.

Radiating Love out to all who I come in contact with, it illuminates darkness, casts out fear, and renews my joy of life.

Choose Love

Today and every day I choose love.

I appreciate the polarities that Life expresses, honoring both the darkness and the light within all.

I hold them in a close embrace of tender, loving care, and affection.

I see everything and everyone through the eyes of love because I am love, and it is my nature.

I am loved, loving, and lovable.

Grateful To Be Me

I used to compare myself to others, thinking oh how I wish I were more like this person or that person.

When I stopped doing that and started appreciating my own gifts, talents and awesomeness, a whole new world opened up for me.

A world filled with self love, affection, joy, appreciation, acceptance, and freedom.

Today I am grateful I get to be me!

There's no one else who I would rather be.

Oneness Does Not Equal Sameness

This is a rewrite of a previous blog post I wrote back in 2011.  What a joy to revisit and edit this important topic to share with you for such a time as this!

Often times our brains get busy trying to understand and make sense of Spiritual principles intellectually while the body is unknowingly re-tuning 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.”

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

I had an experience of embodying oneness at a 5 night silent retreat with one of my favorite enlightened guys, Adyashanti.  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: passing thoughts, coughing, inner peace, still body, still mind - through different eyes, in different bodies.  Suddenly I was hovering above the crowd. Then I was 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 shook my head quickly in an attempt to think something.  I have the subtle memory of attempting to get back into my body or brain but I couldn’t seem to locate that little me.  Another good head shaking was enough to wake up my thinking and all I could say was, “WOAH,” to myself silently in my head before closing my eyes again. 

While it may sound a bit strange or different, it was a profound mystical experience that transformed me.  I recognized that the magnitude of the realization for me at that time, in where I was spiritually, was a bit vast for me to reside in for more than a few seconds.  Gratefully it has gradually integrated within me over time.

The realization of this type of eternal verity - oneness - presents the same dilemma as many other realizations on this path.  It's the great paradox that we are, in fact, spiritual beings having a human experience. Not one or the other, but both at the same time.  God in form.  Individualized, unique expressions of the Divine.  I have discovered that as long as I am having this human experience I must honor both the Oneness, the Divinity in me that is the Divinity in you, and the uniqueness of me and of you.  I can't afford to forget nor undervalue the human experience expressed in so many different ways.  Nor to pretend that we are all the same.

I’m a 5’3”, 40 (something) year old, female, Hispanic, 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.  Each of us with our own unique life experiences, conditioning, ancestry and heritage.  Privileged or burdened by circumstances that we were born into, beyond our control.

Living in this paradox makes life a thrilling adventure.  God is all there is and you are God in form in your own uniquely fabulous way.  Divine and human.  Just like the quarter has a heads side and a tails side.  Both are the quarter yet each side is uniquely different.  Yes we are one, but we are not the same. 

We are called to honor the Divinity within one another, and simultaneously 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 or dismiss the human experience and pretend that it is not happening.  This is like saying the quarter is only the heads side or only the tails side, or it is neither heads nor tails, it is just a quarter. That's the mistake or conundrum we may find ourselves in after embodying the verity of oneness.  It’s actually both and.  Many individualized expressions of the One.

I honor the Divinity within you that is you, and simultaneously honor the unique individual, expressions of the Divine AS you!  Now time to take that eternal verity and see the world through the eyes of the Beloved Presence, honoring all of it.

Today I invite you to look at the people around you with love and compassion, without judgment, noticing their unique beauty.  What do you think is their nationality or ethnicity? What kind of body shape do they have? What color is their hair and their eyes? What age are they? How tall, etc.?  Be curious.  What brought them to where they are today?  What was their ancestry like? What might their privilege or burden be? And then ask the same questions of yourself.  

Lastly ask yourself this: How might I help create a world of inclusion?  How may I contribute to creating a world that works for everyone? 

Namaste.

Which Frequency Are You Tuned Into?

Guitar players adjust the strings of their guitar to a specific tuning.  They do this such that when they play, it will sound a certain way that is pleasing to the ear. They are adjusting the frequency (the vibration speed) so that the strings are in harmony with each other.  When they aren't in harmony the sound is wobbly.  When they are in harmony the sound is smooth and steady. 

Setting my intention for the day is exactly the same. I get to choose the way I want my day to look such that it is pleasing to me and in calibration with Spirit.  This is how I ensure that my values and my actions are aligned for my greatest good, and the greatest good for all.  If I notice a wobble, I embrace that wobble, consider my values, adjust my frequency, and take new action based on my values!  

For example, if I value being grateful and I intend to be tuned into gratitude, then find myself complaining, I stop, sit, and write a gratitude list.  I continue to contemplate that which I am grateful for throughout my day.  

I'm not a victim to the circumstances and conditions of the world that may arise because that's not the tuning I'm in. The frequency I'm tuned in to is of the Spirit: love, beauty, perfection, wholeness, peace, compassion, joy, gratitude, and abundance!

Which frequency are you tuned into on this day? 

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.

The Benefits of Spiritual Coaching: What I Learned at the Center for Spiritual Living

My first three Sundays at the Center for Spiritual Living, San Jose were epic to say the least.  Having built a spiritual foundation in Recovery I was ecstatic to find a spiritual community wherein the Spiritual Director and other leaders seemed to be in full alignment with all that I was learning.  I remember hearing so much in the first three sermons delivered by Dr. David Bruner.  

One thing I learned at the Center was that "there is a power for good in the Universe and I could use it." [Ernest Holmes] This altered my perception of life as I knew it and the way I moved through the world.  Wait, are you saying that life is not happening to me?  If there is a power for Good in the universe and I can use it, does that mean it’s not using me, attempting to destroy me?   Yes, I had many misunderstandings and my spiritual coach walked me through this one, and more. 

"God is personal to all who feel this indwelling presence."  This was a major turning point that changed my life.  In recovery, just about everyone is in the process of discovering or re-discovering what their “higher power” is.  There was a running joke about having it be the door knob, or the people in the group, even Starbucks.  Thinking it to be something outside of myself like a big daddy in the sky simply wasn’t resonating with me.  I just did not understand yet what God was or meant to me, until I arrived at the Center in San Jose.  My spiritual coach walked me through this one too.

"There is a place inside of everyone that has never been harmed, hurt, or wronged in any way."   [Dr.David Bruner] Sure, everyone but me, I thought.  Wait, am I included in the everyone referred to here?  If that was true and that place is within me then I can access it.  I can do more than access it, I can dwell in it.  In fact, I would like to dwell in it and allow myself some respite and relaxation.  I took comfort in this space within me which I was never conscious of before and it became my own personal spa for the soul.

I began to attend services regularly and found myself wondering how this man was so darn happy.  I became committed to discovering the secret to happiness that seemed to be the way of life inside of Religious Science.  I enrolled in Foundations to learn the basics and then I had to be there every Sunday to see my new friends and hear the message.  I didn’t want to miss any of it. 

Soon I made a powerful connection with one of the practitioners, Marilyn Pelz.  I set up a meeting with her, not knowing what to expect, and she was very open, kind, and a great listener.  At the end of the session she prayed with me and it was a very powerful experience.  I floated out of the Center and believed that I was well on my way to discovering a deeper level of happiness in my life.  Eagerly I setup another appointment, and then another and another.  She became my spiritual guide, walking with me on my journey inward, shining the light on everything within.  Healing, revealing, affirming, praying, and opening up to love are only a few things that occurred in my sessions with Marilyn; which created the real possibility for me of enjoying my life and presence on this planet.  A life that I truly love.  A life of happiness. 

This is only a touch of what I have learned at the Center for Spiritual Living.  The benefits of spiritual coaching touched upon here are life altering changes in my belief system.  I highly recommend it.

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.