Stop enabling your past into your present.............

The past is as powerless to darken the present moment, as is a shadow to reach up and drag down the form that casts it.
The truth about the past is simply that it has passed. This means that our experience of each moment -- for its pleasure or pain, peace or trouble -- is a direct reflection of what we are in relationship with in the present.

Our attention connects us to life; it establishes our relationships with all that unfolds around and within us. Our experience of life reflects these relationships just as a rainbow reveals the different colors of light. This means that, whenever resentment or regret darkens our day, there's only one reason for our sorrow: we've been tricked into revisiting and reforming an unconscious relationship with some misery-making moment from our past. We've simply made a bad connection within ourselves, due to a temporary lapse of attention.

If it helps, think of troubling times like these as your having been distracted while taking a long walk through the city. Maybe you were caught up with thinking about the "good old days!" Then you suddenly realize that, in your dream state, you've wandered by mistake into a dangerous neighborhood where you know that bad things happen all the time. What do you do? Do you stand there and hate yourself for having sleepwalked into a nightmare? Of course not! Awake now to the danger you've put yourself in -- and just get out of there!

We can call on this same simple action whenever our attention wanders and takes us into the bad neighborhood of our painful past. In other words, if the resentful or regret-laden state we're feeling is due to a bad connection, we just deliberately disconnect ourselves from that dark thought by realizing where we are and how we got there. By reclaiming our attention -- by bringing ourselves back into the present moment -- we are released from our unconscious relationship with the past, putting its pain behind us, where it belongs. There's nothing more to it than that -- other than to enjoy how good it feels to be free.

Sweet wisdom...........

"I am building myself. There are many roots. I plant, I pick, I prune. I consume."
--Wendy Rose, HOPI/MIWOK




The most sacred thing on this Mother Earth is life. My life on this earth is
governed by God's laws, principles, and spiritual values. These things are
my roots. Let me see Your gifts of growing and becoming a spiritual warrior.
Make my strength based on values - spiritual values; on principles and laws,
the laws of God that really run the universe. We need to realize the seeds
we plant in the spring will be what shows up in our summer season of growth
and will be the fruits that we will harvest in our fall season. We really
have a lot to do with what shows up in our lives.

Great Spirit, let my seed that I plant today be based on values that will
make You pleased with my selection.

You can do this!

Sometimes the journey is a little longer and the way a little steeper than we imagined.

And we sit right down and say,
"I thought I could do this."
You can, girl, you can.
Get back up.
Stand tall.
Look behind you and see how far you've come.
Look ahead and remember where you're going.
Look next to you and see Who's with you. Then take that step.
Just a small one.
Just the next one.
Then another.
That's all it takes.
Not perfection. Just perseverance.
Not speed. Just stubborness.
You're doing well. You're going to make it.
You've got more strength than you know,
and we're cheering with Him, "Go, girl, go!" 

thank you, Ann !!!!

That thing you do...

Oh, it seems like a small thing.

Like anyone could.
Like anyone would.
But that's not true--
we need you.

Sometimes you wonder if it matters...it does.
Sometimes you question if it can make a difference...it will.
Sometimes you worry it might not be enough...it is.

That thing you do?
It's not really so small at all.
It's important. It's valuable.
And you know what?
The Big Guy wants you to know...

You are too.

The master was full of praise. "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!" Matthew 25:21

Heart Hugs

There's no such thing...


There's no such thing as happily ever after...just imperfect, glorious people finding their way together.


There's no such thing as the yellow brick road...just twisty-turny paths to unexpected, inexplicable dreams.


There's no such thing as the perfect day...just the ordinary and sacred all mixed into every moment.


There's no such thing as the ideal you...just who you are, flawed and loved, broken and blessed.


There's just one thing that frees us from our fairy tales and unrealistic expectations, that helps us find the joy right in the middle of what we already have.

Grace.

And it's as good and real as the One who gives it.

Yeesh... the UMC has gone daft.

What is it about a teensy bit of power that drives some people insane !?  That is, of course, rhetorical. But--- Yeesh !  The Upper New York Conference of the UM is devoid of conscience and filled with hypocritical nonsense.  No wonder people leave churches and never return. Small wonder great Pastors are fleeing. No wonder main line denominations are falling into bankruptcy.  They are driving the "numbers" with people who are bankrupt of any heart or spirit.  But of course that is simply my opinion and like noses we all have one.  What about you?

The Gentle Art of Blessing !

“Blessing, at least after the initial learning, and often right from the start, is full of rest. In the midst of the worst tempest, when your lifeboat is rocking wildly, it will calm the waves and you will discover a deep, deep repose.” - Pierre Pradervand, from The Gentle Art of Blessing

Blessing is such a simple practice one wonders why everyone doesn’t do it. It doesn’t require special training or equipment. You need not kneel before an altar or light a candle or recite scripture in order for a blessing to work. No particular faith is required and you don’t need to belong to a certain church or sect. Nothing is required at all, in fact, except your willingness to imagine the highest and best for the person, circumstance or thing being blessed. It’s that simple. Just a little willingness to think a higher thought and a blessing is dispatched.


To follow the Blessing Way Path, you only need to be willing to bless. That sounds so easy, doesn’t it? And in reality it is easy. But sometimes it doesn’t feel that way. That’s because life has conditioned us to fight our enemy instead of bless him, and while few would admit it, most of us consider anything we disagree or disapprove of as an enemy of sorts. As a deeply spiritual expression of unconditional love and acceptance, when it comes loving and accepting those people and things we have previously thought to be unlovable and unacceptable, blessing can quite naturally begin to feel like the most difficult thing one could possibly do.


After all, what are we supposed to do we do when someone makes us angry or a situation is turning out badly and we feel far more inclined to stress than to bless? What are we supposed to do when we are being attacked and the urge to retaliate is so strong we can almost taste it? What are we supposed to do when the idea of blessing a particular person, circumstance or thing seems like the least appropriate action we could possibly take?

What are we supposed to do? We’re supposed to bless anyway. That’s what.

We’re supposed to plant our feet firmly on the Blessing Way Path and start moving forward even when it feels that’s the very last thing we should do. Even when we’re being attacked and every thought in our head screams retaliation. Even when everyone tells us we need to fight back, or condemn, or curse, or at the very least, disregard. Even when we think we can’t possibly… We bless anyway.

We take responsibility for our lives and recognize that whoever or whatever we might be dealing with at any given moment was attracted to us by us as a way of helping us to learn, to love, and return to the reality of our Beingness. No matter how awful, how disturbing or how distasteful any person or circumstance might be, its purpose for being present in our lives is to benefit us in some way. Once we incorporate that Truth into our thinking process, the changes begin. We begin to appreciate, opening ourselves to our own blessedness as at the same time, we open our hearts to the blessedness of others.

And as we push past our resistance and bless anyway, an amazing thing happens. Our lives begin to change for the better. As we focus on blessing others, our lives our blessed.


For the cost of a simple blessing, our lives are forever changed.