Divinity

Who Is the Miraculous

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I am a fierce, creative, powerful and grateful being
Who is the miraculous.

I am the strength, vision and vibration of my dream.

I allow the notion of unworthiness to drop away.
There is no such thing.
Worthiness is inherent by nature of existence.

I know the Divine.
I know my own Divinity.
I know Pure Potentiality
which I shape with my Divine authorship.

Spider Web

I know the miracle of me.
I know the way of magic.

I know my ability to hear and notice
when magic speaks.
I allow the magic to flow through me.

When I resist, second-guess or deny
my Divinity, my magic,
I thwart or block my natural, abundant flow.

When I align with and allow my Divinity,
all nature of magic and miracles
Unfold naturally and consistently.

I am the strength, vision and vibration of my dream.

I am a fierce, creative, powerful and grateful being
Who is the miraculous.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

You Are a Bright Light

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Yesterday morning as I was meditating, I realized that each and every one of us is a bright light.

This realization brought a huge smile to my face. The understanding is so obvious and, at the same time, it seems quite easy to find lots of exceptions.

And yet, there are no exceptions.

You are a bright light.

Take that in. What’s it like for you to acknowledge yourself as a bright light?

womandoingyoga350x234

So beautiful that each of our lights shine differently . . .

Let’s experiment. What would it be like to go through our day today remembering that we are bright lights and so is everyone we encounter?

I love this experiment! I will report my findings next week and I would love to hear yours.

And, in this moment, what are you noticing? Insights? New perspectives?

What Keeps Us from Loving Ourselves?

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What stands between us and self-appreciation, self-compassion, self-love? We behave as though our thinking is real.

What if we didn’t believe everything we hear in our head about ourselves? What if we didn’t believe our judgments of others (projections about ourselves)?

When we hear in our heads:

  • You shouldn’t have . . .
  • You should have . . .
  • There you go again . . .
  • You’re so _________ (you fill in the blank).
  • When are you going to change _________ (again, you fill in the blank)?

What if we didn’t engage with those repetitive, dead-end, self-loathing thoughts and instead used them as a mindfulness activity?

We could:

  • Take a few deep breaths and compassionately remind ourselves we are always doing the best we can.
  • Pause and notice the habitual nature of the thoughts and simply give them some space.
  • Byron Katie style, question the thoughts. “Is it true I should . . .?” “What is a turnaround for that thought?” “Who would I be without that thought?”
  • Take a few seconds to appreciate that we noticed the thoughts and didn’t engage.
  • Take ourselves lightly, smile and go on about our day.

What keeps us from loving ourselves? The human thoughts that tell us all the reasons we shouldn’t.

Orange Daisy Gerbera

Ah, to recognize our own beauty and divinity as easily as we recognize
the unique beauty and universal divinity of this daisy . . .

Why might we love ourselves anyway? To honor the spiritual truth about us: that we ARE love.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

Two Ways to Brilliantly and Divinely Transcend Ourselves

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“As human beings we are made to surpass ourselves and are truly ourselves only when transcending ourselves.”
  ~ Huston Smith

Two ways to transcend ourselves: Brilliance and Divinity.

Brilliance
The human and personally unique: consistently growing, quantum leaping and expanding the boundaries of our service and contribution. The practice of our craft. Living and working beyond our own innocently self-imposed self-consciousness.

Ah, to transcend myself and experience Oneness with all of this . . .

Ah, to transcend myself and experience Oneness with all of this . . .

 
Divinity
The Divine and Universal: going beyond our human limitations, accessing our innate Divinity and Oneness, where all things are possible.

                             To living our Brilliance and our Divinity . . .

What Good Life Is Just Beyond Acceptance?

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Earlier this week, I drove to Denver to facilitate a StrengthsFinder team development for one of my coaching clients. As is want to do this time of year, it was snowing and the roads were icy for about the first 45 minutes of my drive.

I could hear the typical conversation in my head about how it would be fine for me to drive in the snow if it weren’t for all the other pesky drivers. And, perhaps because I had only myself to talk to, I reminded myself that the experience of my life is created from within me, not by external circumstances outside of me (those pesky drivers).

So, I decided to accept the other drivers and drove for a few minutes without saying much to myself. And, then I had an insight.

What if I put my focus on my relationship with the road? What if I noticed that I am One with the whole experience – the road, the snow, the other drivers? What if I allowed myself to receive the beauty of the experience?

Instantly my experience shifted from one of stress and tolerating to feeling relaxed and knowing I am always supported. I had a palpable experience of the state of grace in which I live – if I only but notice.

On my drive back from Denver, I was present to the glory of this moment with the majesty of the Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg, Colorado.
On my drive back from Denver, I was present to the glory of this moment with the majesty of the Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg, Colorado.

Maybe 15 minutes later, the traffic thinned and there was no longer snow and ice on the road. And, my awareness of receiving WHAT IS stayed with me throughout the rest of the trip.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

The Happy Reason to Replace Special Relationships

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Do I really want coffee to be my God? Or, do I want my lover, my Audi A4, my beloved niece or my precious kitty to be my God?

Or, am I willing to know my Divinity?

Both A Course in Miracles (ACIM) and A Course of Love (ACOL) ask us to choose holy relationship rather than special relationships. From ACIM, I’ve been aware of this concept for probably twenty years, but didn’t take it seriously until recently revisiting it in ACOL.

A special relationship is a relationship with anything or anyone that we believe will make us more worthy, loveable, whole, safe, happy, important, powerful and the list goes on . . .

A holy relationship is with our Self. It calls for joining of our mind and heart in unity. The holy relationship makes our Self one with all and brings the holiness of Self to all.

The Happy Reason to Replace Special Relationships

My ego has wanted a whole bunch of special relationships. And, every day that I read more of ACOL, the less that appeals to me. I am sensing more and more what it’s like to be one with all and to bring the holiness of my Self to all.

And, I am in awe of the freedom I’m noticing in my relationships with my coffee, lover, car, niece and kitty! My judgments, demands, attachments and expectations are vaporizing and my happiness is exponentially increasing.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

A Couple of Reasons to Drop Your Protection

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“You are not a drop in the ocean.
You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
– Rumi

A Couple of Reasons to Drop Your Protection

I used to think of myself as a lone wolf. I rather liked that image of me. Today, I see that I thought I could protect myself by pretending to be separate.

Not only was it not very effective protection, it was also pretty isolating and lonely. Maybe you have your own strategies for protecting yourself?

As I’ve kept more of my attention on my Divine nature, I realize the absurdity of trying to keep myself separate. I’ve always known we are all One. I just hadn’t spend much time imagining what that really meant.

As my knowing of our Oneness has slowly shifted from concept to experience, I recognize that not only can I not keep myself separate, it also doesn’t serve to continue seeing myself as small.

Sometimes I do experience myself as the entire ocean in a drop. Sometimes I do experience Oneness with those around me, the environment, Life itself. And, other times, all of this still feels like a nice concept rather than reality.

I so appreciate you, here, on this journey with me! Regardless of how much I experience or don’t experience my entire Ocean-ness, I no longer want to pretend I’m alone.

You and I may know each other personally. Or, we may never have met. Regardless, the fact that we are both here now means we have created this opportunity to experience our deep connection.

I still have times when I make choices from fear, from protection. I also usually catch myself pretty quickly. Then, I take a deep breath and ask, “How can I choose from Love, from Oneness?” And I usually have the courage to act on the answer . . .

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

How Do I Truly Experience Home?

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I’m just back from a quick trip to Detroit to spend the weekend with my beloved niece, Alisha. For my whole life, I’ve preferred to drive to places rather than fly. I haven’t liked being off the ground, and I really haven’t liked feeling almost claustrophobic in a flying Greyhound.

Until this trip.

Milky way reflection at William's Lake, Colorado

Something shifted. I loved being in the air. I loved looking out into and flying through infinity. Especially at night. I felt at home in the Universe and wished I didn’t have the plane around me.

This shift startled me. What was going on?

Talking to my own coach today, I realized my sense of home is expanding. I can feel the vast nature of my spiritual home. I can feel the unlimitedness of me – beyond my body home, my wonderful casita home and my planet home.

Wow! That is something to write home about . . .

What about you? What does this bring up for you? How do you experience home?

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

How Have I Loved and What Have I Shared Today?

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Recently while working with a coaching client, he described his behavior in a particular situation and then asked me, “Is that normal?” What he really wanted to know, what we all want to know, “Am I okay? Compared to everyone else, do I fit in? Am I doing it right? Do I have value?”

While the questions are common, no answers will serve us. If the answers are primarily “no,” then we are “wrong.” If they’re primarily “yes,” we won’t believe them or we’ll believe them temporarily until the next time we feel compelled to ask for affirmation yet again.

Looking for external validation will never get us to where we want to go. As we come to accept, embrace and know our unique and perfectly imperfect humanness AND our Oneness in our Divinity, we will no longer seek approval or validation.

What is “normal” in my unique human expression looks nothing like what is “normal” in yours. You and I can be experiencing the exact same event, conversation or circumstance and we still have two separate realities based on our own perceptions and thoughts.

Then, when any of us experience something through our Divinity, the question of “normal” doesn’t even exist.

How Have I Loved Today

So, what might we ask ourselves instead? Right now, I’m asking myself, “How have I loved and what have I shared today?”

What about you? What’s meaningful for you to ask yourself?

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

How Might Both/And Encourage a Rich Life?

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“No wholeness will be possible for you while you compartmentalize your life into designated pieces giving yourself time for work and time for leisure and seeing them not as the same thing. Life is life. Life is. As love is.

Life is service to God. God is service to life. You are God in life. Thus you are both life and service to life, both God and service to God. All of the vast universe was created the same: to live and to serve life, to be of God and be of service to God. To be served and to serve. To be provided for and to provide. To have needs met and to meet needs. This circular nature of the universe leaves no one unattended.”

~ Mari Perron, First Receiver
    A Course of Love

One of my favorite coaching distinctions is Both/And instead of Either/Or. And, lately, it seems like much of my life is calling me to embrace All. Last week I wrote about embracing both “good” and “bad” and everything in between.

This week, A Course of Love is speaking to me loudly and clearly. I am both God and service to God. I am both living and serving life. I am both provided for and providing.

To the Infinite Wholeness of Life!
To the Infinite Wholeness of Life!

I’ve come a long way since the black and white thinking of my teens and early adult years. I’m grateful.

Last week, as I noticed how embracing good, bad and in-between caused me to relax, so too does embracing myself as God and in service to God.

I have less to sift through, less to figure out, less to try to control. I feel less pressured and more accepting. It feels amazing.

What about you? What are you hearing in this? What is showing up in your life right now?

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)