What stops peace is when we plug the flow of God’s Love with our muddy thoughts and judgments. It doesn’t mean that our peace no longer exists. It only means that we have plugged the flow of God’s loving energy with our fear.

We can bring clarity and the pure stream of joy and understanding back into our conscious awareness by simply choosing Love instead of fear at all times. A Course In Miracles teaches that we are far too tolerant of our mind wanderings. We think our ego thoughts have the power and so we let them run rampant and cause us sadness, anxiety, sickness and insanity which translates into nature’s imbalance and the world’s suffering. We really don’t believe there is another way to live. And we certainly don’t have a clue as to how powerful our thoughts are. If God stood right in front of us and told us the truth, we wouldn’t believe Him. And yet this is exactly what He does as He speaks to the heart of each of us constantly answering our prayers for peace and happiness. These are the answers we ignore or refuse to hear because they aren’t coming in exactly the form that our ego’s expect and understand.

To hear God is not a matter of fighting the crazy ego thinking; it’s simply a matter of not giving it power over us.  If we look at the insane thoughts that rule our lives without judgment or attachment and then quietly let them pass on by while we return to our quiet and peaceful core where God lives, it wouldn’t be long before we would realize that being happy is nothing more than a gentle choice. 

We’re afraid of losing ourselves, our uniqueness, our edge, our excitement and life’s many enjoyments when we choose for God instead of the ego.  Well, the fact is we have already given up ourselves in favor of the ego’s way of life.  And when we decide for God, we are re-claiming our inheritance and the life we really want.  Abundance, happiness, peace, delightful miracles and an amazing healthy and joyous life come from God’s Love, not from ego’s limitations and its paralyzing fear.

So let’s begin today to unplug from fear and plug into our truth and let our light shine and our happiness and God’s abundant love flow free.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

Really, it’s all good news. Like Christmas every day. Open one package and find nestled in tissue a thought. Joy is your reality. Open a second gaily wrapped package and find this gift: You are loved beyond measure. Another gift awaits your unwrapping: You deserve everything good that you want. Another: You are a ray of light. Another: All your mistakes have been forgiven. And: Happiness and abundance are your right. As well: You are entitled to love and be loved. Then: In God’s eyes you are perfect and peaceful. Open the next wrapping and see emblazed this beautiful thought to carry with you always, There is no miracle you cannot have if you so choose.

Everything beautiful we can imagine is already ours. Every loving or affirmative thought or action holds within it a gift wrapped and ready to open. One for every day of the year. One for every moment of each day. The gifts are limitless and constant, ever flowing and never lost. All that is needed to access them is to choose them, expect them and accept them. They cannot be stopped just as God’s Love cannot be stopped.

With this understanding, now step into the light of constant Christmas and feel your heart overflow with forgiveness and gratitude and love. Forgiveness and Gratitude and Love are the three gifts we give that keep all the other gifts flooding toward us.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

Let’s think of our life as a play.  We are the writer, the producer, the director and the main character.  We have total control of how our play will go.  If we don’t like how our main character is acting out his/her part we can re-write it, re-produce it and re-direct it. The changes for our play’s character are all within our mind.

If we’re acting out a scene where we’re having a disagreement with another character, we can re-write our part and choose another tactic for our character.  Our character can look at the other character and choose to see him/her a different way.  More kindly.  More compassionately.  More open mindedly.  And as our thinking changes so will our dialogue. As our dialogue changes so will the dialogue of the other character. 

In this sense all dialogue is connected. The other character may speak first and then we respond.  Whatever we respond with will affect what the other character says or does next.  If we respond calmly, quietly and with kindness, the other character will feel that and will probably calm down as well.  If we’re in a sour mood and project that onto the scene, the other character will probably respond to our angry or unhappy words in a corresponding way.  But then it’s our turn again.  Even if we began the unhappy scenario, we have the choice to change it instantly.  “I’m sorry.  I’m just in a bad mood.  Let’s start over.”

If we feel the other character is being unjust we don’t have to allow our character to defend itself. We can simply leave the stage. We can remind ourselves, “I don’t have to be a part of this. What he/she is saying is not true so what’s the point of my joining in and escalating the drama?”

The beauty of being in control of our play is that we can change the atmosphere and the storyline or even leave the stage any time we choose.  Now, that’s power.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

If we look into our heart we will see that it isn’t the world we fear. It is Love. We are afraid to trust that God is in charge and will make all the corrections necessary that will lead us to peace. So in that sense we are not afraid of what we think is happening or will happen, we are afraid that God’s promises are not real. If we really trusted Him we would feel all our burdens lifted and would at last understand that no matter how it looks or feels it must be all right, because God’s laws are governing this world.

If we trusted in God instead of trying to “fix” things with our narrow understanding and our fear-filled little egos, all that is not of God would fall away and this world would be a different place. Now, would we live in confidence.  Now would joy be our constant companion.  Now would we at last be free.

Let’s join hands and take the leap from the precipice of limitation and dark thinking; from sad thoughts and worry and anxiety and watch with awe and gratitude as a miracle occurs.  What we will find is when we place our trust in Him, we cannot fall for we have been given wings.

 May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

Can you see it?  It’s the light of your own being joined with all the other lights of everyone around you, and then joined again with every light throughout the world.  Bask in the light.  Feel the warmth of all that love flood your being.  Breathe it in like the purest, cleanest air, then breathe it out and feel all the tension leave your body.  Breathe it in and out again.  And again.  And again. Watch fear swirl harmlessly and fade into the light. Fear is darkness and darkness cannot survive in light. 

Play in the light, skip and hop and be just plain silly while the light shines on you and pours from you.  Join hands with other lights and lead them in a dance of purest joy, totally uninhibited, filled with pure delight.  Shout, Hooray! knowing that this moment of deep happiness, safety and well being is all there really is and it is yours and everyone’s.  Not only is it yours, but it is YOU!

Do you hear that sound?  That deep and freeing sound of joyous laughter?  That’s you!  Laugh until your sides ache.  Laugh until your spirit heals and your senses are filled with an amazing feeling of heavenly wonder. Let your perception shift and see a world beside the one that you believed in a moment ago. Now believe in this new and better world where all things are possible and only goodness lives. It’s nothing new, really.  It’s the Divine Universe.  It’s your home.

Come home and recognize yourself.  You’re the one dancing in delight while miracles rain down upon you.  Don’t worry.  There are miracles for everyone.  There is never a shortage when it comes to miracles.  And the more you share them, the more they multiply.  Now that you’re here, don’t you agree that home is a most lovely place to be?  Feel how it feels to be whole and perfect and at one with everyone and all the Universe.  Breathe it in, absorb it into your very being.  And tell all the world the secret, THERE IS NO SECRET.  God is not a mystery. He doesn’t work in mysterious ways.  Why would He? He wants you to know Him.  He wants it to be clear that He is right beside you out in the open and ready to show you your own truth, your own beautiful spirit, your loving home right here on earth.  This is the place where love springs eternal and joy is an ordinary, natural occurrence that is happening constantly and manifests as love and light, pure and simple and no mystery at all.

What do you say?  All together now, THANK YOU! 

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

How we see ourselves and our brothers and sisters isn’t really true or even factual, but just a perception based upon a very limited view point. Our entire experience here is based on opinion, not fact.  Everything that brings us pleasure and everything that disturbs our peace, does so because of the way we interpret it. It is impossible not to have opinions in this world, but it is possible to lift those opinions, beliefs and judgments up to the Universe and ask for help to see ourselves, our lives and the world in a different way, a new way, a better way.  God will take our gifts of judgment and fear and redefine them for us, correct and purify them and then return them to us filled with love.  And now all of our opinions will come from a place of love and we will be at peace.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

Peace is the antidote to anxiety and fear.  But how do we manifest that when fear is strong and seems to be validated by everything going on in our lives and in the world around us? 

First separate the fear from what is happening in the world.  When our fears our focused on something specific it is hard not to believe in them.  Let’s take the specific out and just focus on the feelings. See how they move within us. Feel the tightening between our shoulders and the heaviness in our chest.  Our heart is pounding, our mouth dry, our breathing becomes shallow.  Watch the dark thoughts as they come and go. Try to say this, “I don’t care how it looks or how it feels, it isn’t real.”  This thought will help us get a new perspective. This thought will help us be the observer of our feelings instead of the feelings themselves.

Feelings are just feelings.  Don’t be afraid to look at fear.  Remember the old saying, “…there is nothing to fear, but fear itself.” Fear is not a premonition. Anxiety is not a sign of bad things to come.  Depression doesn’t mean the world is coming to an end.  It only means we’re afraid or sad or angry. These are just feelings.  They don’t own us, but it is time for us to recognize that instead, we need to own them. The most powerful antidote is simply looking and seeing the feelings as something apart from us and not actually who we are.  The thought that “… this is just who I am” is based upon a false premise.  It is not who we are, it is how we have chosen to be; what we have decided to believe. We have the right to choose fear instead of Love, but is that what we really want to manifest into our life?

If the answer is no, let’s take a step toward freedom together.

Let’s envision the fear (anxiety, depression, anger, sadness, etc.) as a child in need of love.  Let’s send love into the fear.  Let’s be kind with it and patient, and gently fill it with light.  It may seem that by loving our fear, we will be validating and strengthening it, but in fact, just the opposite occurs.  By filling our anxiety and fear and depression with thoughts of love and kindness toward our frightened inner child, we will soon see the fear fade away.  As our loving muscle strengthens, our fear muscle weakens. Fear cannot fight love or argue with it because love simply is and won’t fight back.  Fear needs a fight in order to survive. It needs validation. When we are filling our fear with love, there is nothing to battle or to project onto. Fear cannot cling to love or argue with it. It simply falls away and we will have gifted ourselves with a power we never knew we possessed. That is the power to be happy in the face of fear. Just as we would comfort a frightened child, we can bring our own spirit back to peace with a simple smile, a gentle hug and a loving thought.  

Next time you feel fear in any form, don’t look at what you think caused it, instead smile at yourself and say, “I love you.”  And feel the transformation from fear into peace begin, one loving thought at a time.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

♥Ginger tea and chamomile, warm and soothing to the soul. 

♥A smile as bright as sunlight shining down upon a calm and healed world. 

♥Fresh baked banana bread, aromatic and delicious.   

♥Quiet thoughts tiptoeing soundlessly not wanting to disturb.

♥A child’s happy laughter; a small hand grasping yours in perfect trust.

♥A jolt of joy striking like a bolt of lightning leaving falling miracles around.

♥A kitten batting playfully at a puppy’s wagging tail.

♥The silent sound of hearts joining one by one in prayer.

♥A dragonfly dancing lightly among the tiger lilies on a summer day.

♥The safe and wondrous feeling of trusting in a higher power.

♥A friend’s voice on the phone, warm with love and positive support.

♥Knowing absolutely that all your problems have been solved.

♥Splashing happily in a cool and cleansing summer rain.

♥Living your truth with confidence and power and total joy and love.

♥Dancing lightly on a rainbow hand in hand with all the world.

♥Being in a constant state of oneness with the Universe and knowing nothing else.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

When we allow and be
Our spirit is set free.
This thought though short and sweet
Is worthy to repeat.
Think it, say it, know it.
Plant it, feed it, grow it.
In grateful joy, we kneel
And feel our spirit heal.

Inspired by Kristen

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

“You either live as if everything is a miracle or nothing is a miracle.” Albert Einstein

And a miracle is that the choice is ours.  What does it mean to live as if everything is a miracle?

We don’t know for sure except that when we are living our best, miraculous lives, somehow no matter what is going on we sense that it is all right and good will come from this. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.  Let’s keep our focus on that light until our tunnel vision fades and all we see is Light.  This is possible and in fact it is impossible for us to not be hopeful.  We were created from light and so the tunnel is only us limiting ourselves and cramming our experience into a tiny, dark place where we do not belong. 

A miracle, then, is how we choose to see a thing.  If we choose to see the world as hopeless and to judge and criticize our brothers and sisters or to feel lost, lonely and alone riddled with guilt and pain, the Universe won’t stop us.  God won’t understand why we are doing this to ourselves, but if it’s what turns our crank then He must allow it.  It’s called free will. 

A Course In Miracles teaches that anything that comes from love is a miracle.  Forgiveness comes from love.  Kindness comes from love.  Patience, empathy and joy come from love.  Simply suspending judgment and surrendering everything that blocks our peace is done in love.  So if we can’t forgive or be kind and patient or empathetic or joyous in a given moment, we can at least suspend judgment and surrender.  We can at least decide that we don’t like this feeling, show me something else.  We do it when buying shoes or testing mangos or deciding on one meal over another at whatever restaurant we’ve chosen. Why not choose to live a better life.  Let’s shop for happier thoughts. It’s the same principle. And it’s all about our willingness, our will, our choices and begins with a simple decision; I want the peace of God instead of this. 

As long as we have free will anyway, let’s decide to really free our will. Let’s give it to God and choose happiness.  Think, God’s is my only will.  The truth is God’s is our only will because we do want to be happy.  Everyone does without exception.  When we’re unhappy, we really are going against our own will.  Does that make sense?  To go against our own will?  Seems a bit insane, doesn’t it? So let’s listen to Albert Einstein today and live as if everything is a miracle.  Because everything is.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

To truly see yourself, don’t look in the mirror, look inside your heart.  That is where your beauty lies; where your kindness, your empathy and your generosity abide. This is where your voice sings arias to the Angels and you are able, in calm and quiet peace, to listen to the silence of God’s own Soul speaking constantly of your holiness. You are an artist of the spirit, a poet of the soul, a creation of delight and joy, at one with all the Universe. Inside you love lives, a constant flame to be fanned by trust and shared with all. And it is there that healing is always happening. Look and laugh and rejoice at your true nature, your real self and then own your truth be grateful for your sweet essence and your holy presence and the truth will set you free.

Keep these words with you, so if you forget, you can be reminded that the truth of you is not what’s in the mirror, but what’s inside your very being.  Always look inside to see the truth.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

God is beyond words. He is simply Love. 

Joy

Happiness

Health

Safety

Peace

Light

Laughter

These are all the results of Love. 

The only activity required to receive them is …

Forgiveness

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

What if God came to us in a vision and said, “Beloved Child, you are healed.”  Would we believe Him?  Would we be able to see beyond what we are feeling and beyond what we think we are experiencing and say, “Okay.” or even “God, I can’t see it, but if You say so, it must be true.”  Or would we say, “God you must be crazy.  Look at me.  I’m a mess.”

Well, God is constantly telling us we’re healed.  We’re okay.  We never left His Heaven. So now we can decide this moment whether we believe Him or not.  Actually, He doesn’t expect us to believe Him, but He does expect us to be willing to believe.  Our little willingness opens up a channel for His Love to flow free and in His Love we can experience moments of pure joy, peace, love and light. It is in those moments we can “see”, He is absolutely right. We are healed.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

There is only one way to see the world and still be at peace.  That is through the eyes of God. Whenever we can’t understand what we see or the reason we are having a particular experience, let’s not try to figure it out.  We can’t.  Simply be still and pray, “God let me see the world through your eyes.” And somehow peace will flood through us and we will know that beneath the devastation and beyond the insanity, there is a place where all is well.  No matter how terrible things look, there are always underlying miracles and blessings working to make corrections. Those miracles are God’s gifts and we must cling to them, be grateful for them and surrender everything else. In this way, are we now an instrument of peace, a channel for healing and part of the solution.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

Love is the center of the Universe.  We have packed a lot of stuff around it and so we can’t always see the center very well.  So let’s start peeling off the excess that hides the truth from us. That fight we had with our spouse, peel it away.  Smile at it knowing it’s over and wasn’t really serious to begin with and throw it in the trash. That moment that we yelled at our child, peel that off right now.  Let’s go find the child and give him/her a hug and say I’m sorry, then throw the moment in the trash. That time we felt worthless when someone insulted us. Peel it off and look at it.  Can’t we see that wasn’t us they were talking about, but themselves?  Well that’s a relief. Now we can throw it in the trash and wish them well.

Then there’s that worrisome moment when we listened to the news and heard how bad the world is.  That hopeless, helpless feeling. How is it helpful for us to hang onto that?  Peel it off.  Bless the world and send it healing love and throw the bad news in the trash knowing there has to be a better way, a Higher Power that can heal even the worst devastation. There has to be hope. So now we can ask for help to see the world through God’s eyes with the understanding that no healing happens when we are distracted by fear. We need to peel away each and every fear about the world so we can see our true purpose. We aren’t here to be part of the problem are we?  No way.  We’re here to be part of the solution. Only God knows how that works.  So let’s peel off our need to control the world and get rid of it once and for all.  That’s called letting go and letting God.  It’s also called forgiveness. It’s called allowing.  It’s called TRUST. 

A loved one, friend or family member in dire straits is enough to distract us from our peace.  Peel that off, ask the Universe how we can help and don’t forget to bless our friend or family member and lift them up to God for healing. Now we can throw our fears for them in the trash.  Joining anyone in fear is never helpful unless we’re trying to help them keep their problems alive. What about that last bout of flu that knocked us for a loop.  What was that all about?  Peel off the memory of that and choose to be healthy instead and throw that sickness in the trash.  And while we’re at, let’s do it for everyone else as well. 

Let’s take everything that disturbs us, depresses us, causes anxiety or sickness or fear in any form and peel it away from our Universe. One by one clear the junk away.  Obsessions over food, drugs, alcohol, let’s peel them away and then get help and throw the obsession in the trash.  Fear from the past and fear of the future we must peel them away and give the past and the future to God to handle and throw our attachments away.  Some things are too hard to let go?  Let’s ask ourselves do I want to be happy or do I want to be trapped in a place of misery and sadness? Let’s peel them away for just a moment and see what happens.  Wow!  It didn’t kill us.  Good.  Now we can keep peeling.

What’s that we see up ahead?  Is that a Light?  Did we hear laughter?  Was that a jolt of joy we felt?

Come on, let work’s faster.  Keep peeling.  Ahhh!  Look!  It’s the center of the Universe at last! And you thought we’d never reach it. And yet here it is all around us. And it’s wondrous! And so restful. Did you really understand how amazing it would feel to know we’re safe, perfectly safe floating in Love? Look how healthy we are.  How miraculous the world is.  And everyone looks the same only with an inner glow that makes them beautiful. Nothing can disturb us here. Nothing can harm us here. It’s peaceful, yet exciting and delicious. There is perfect balance, with everything and everyone in harmony. Now that we’re here we can see clearly what we couldn’t see before.  Not only is the center of the Universe filled with Love, but we are the Love that lives at the center of the Universe. What a waste of time, all that nonsense we packed upon the Universe to hide this glorious other world where we really belonged. The colors are so clear and vibrant. Everything and everyone is so – the only way to say it is ALIVE!  What was that dark and dingy place we peeled away?  Who cares?  It’s over.  And now it’s time to live. Now it’s time to shine our light with God’s and really live.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

Can you find our hidden gift inside this poem?
Hint: It is our true nature as a child of God.

I  nside each one of us there lives a hidden, yet completely 

N atural, inner knowing we can easily access by simply being still.

N othing in the world or beyond it can block, stop or disturb

O ur peace or dam the joy that flows in a constant stream from the

C enter of our very being and is designed to gently touch and lift

E ach of us and everyone who comes before us even for an instant.  

N ameless and wordless, yet powerful and full of miracles, this

C hangeless truth is our ancient gift from a Loving God who is

E ternal and in Him we were always healed and whole and Home.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

When the world seems insane, it’s important for us to remain sane.  The disaster in Haiti reminds us that we are brothers and sisters in need of joining in love and prayers and in quiet listening for answers from God. Not just for the people in Haiti, but everywhere in the world where there is suffering and injustice. Let’s not join the world in its pain, but instead let’s lift everyone up to the miracles of God’s Love knowing that God does not cause disaster, but He and His Angels are there to comfort and heal. 

We can ask for guidance.  How can I help?  And then follow His guidance and open our minds and hearts to allow Love to be the connecting force for healing.  Help us to know that we are not our suffering, but His creations and nothing that happens here can change the truth or diminish our purpose.  Our purpose, as always, is to be an instrument of peace, a bringer of joy and to believe for those who cannot; that there is a power beyond disaster. And that power is Love.  Our purpose is to hold in our mind the truth and the light of each of God’s children and remember for them and for ourselves that beyond this world lies the true reality of our existence.  And that reality is Love.

Dear God, may everyone who is suffering see only your Light, rest in your Love and remember in their darkest hours that they are your Holy Creations. May every situation be a time for us to join with each other in Love and be a reminder that we are One. May we use each experience as an opportunity to suspend our beliefs and surrender our fears so that we can stay calm and quiet and bring peace and healing to the hearts of all who need to feel Your presence and experience your miracles.

Please guide us in how to be helpful. Please show us your laws governing this world transforming fear into love, disaster into relief and suffering into peace. Amen.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

In this cold and flu season I am reminded of what A Course In Miracles teaches that all sickness is a defense against the truth.  Meaning an ego distraction to keep us believing we are bodies and at the mercy of a world designed to make us sick leaving us no choice but to catch what’s going around while we frantically take every preventative measure to keep ourselves and our children healthy.  The Course teaches that we are not bodies, but Spirit created by God and at any time we could simply stand up and say, “I have no need of this,” and we would be healed instantly.

Of course we don’t believe this.  All we need to do is look around and see all the sickness everywhere to know that we believe we are bodies weak and vulnerable and at the mercy of every germ the world has to offer.  But what if it is true?  What if the sickness were in our mind and manifested from there into our bodies and we began to practice this very moment to believe we have the power to be healed just by simply allowing God’s laws of Love to govern us? 

The Course also teaches that we should take whatever measures necessary, doctors, vitamins, shots, medication to aid us in our body’s healing while we are practicing believing that the power of wellness is in our thinking.  We should not try to heal ourselves because our fear is too great.  But that fear can’t stop us from opening our minds and wondering if just perhaps the power of God within us can’t cure, not only what ails us, but what ails the world.

Why not try a new practice that I call gargle and surrender. Let’s take our vitamins, but instead of seeing them as measures to prevent the fearful thought of sickness, let’s see them as symbols of our willingness to be well.  As with anything it takes lots of practice to see sickness differently, but even as we experience sickness or weakness we can choose to see through the pain and discomfort to the light of God’s Love on the other side.  It may not make us feel better immediately, but at least we will be considering that there is another way of looking at the body and the power of God within us.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

When faced with a challenging relationship, we must find a place and time to go within and get quiet.  Then we can ask for help to see the other person through the eyes of God.  We can ask for help to see through their words and beyond their behavior and really understand that they are so much more.  As we do this, we will see also that we are much more than their perception of us. And then we can go a step further and see that we are much more than our own perception of us. 

If we are, even for an instant, disturbed by another, it is because we secretly believe in their misguided opinions.  When we truly understand who we are, our quiet confidence will express this and we will have no need to fight back or to verbally defend or protect ourselves.  

A Course In Miracles teaches that it is through our relationships we will be healed.  The importance of this is undeniable. For when we have allowed healing in our relationships we have done everything to also allow our own healing. Once we begin to see the truth; that there are only those who are crying out for love or those who are extending or allowing love to flow through us a treasure trove of miracles will open for us. This fact may be clear to us in some relationships and circumstances, but now we need to understand that there are no exceptions.  This is how it is with everyone in our lives, those passing through and those long term.

To call or cry out for love means that deep within us, we believe that God’s Love is being denied us.  To extend Love means that we understand that God’s Love cannot be missing for it is always and forever within us just quietly waiting our acceptance.  God is Love and God is all there is.  We cannot be unhappy, angry, sad or fearful in any form when we truly understand this.

And now let’s allow God to be in charge of our relationships, our past, our present and our future.  It sounds simple and it is, but because we have allowed our egos to rule our thinking for so long, it takes great vigilance to trust in this Loving Power that transcends and transforms a world of fear into an experience of pure Love.  Not vigilance against the ego, but vigilance for God. 

Every relationship is capable of deep and abiding Love no matter how dysfunctional in the world.  In some cases, we may have to leave the relationship to assure our safety and even if that’s necessary we can still forgive from afar.  We can forgive and allow healing even if the person who has caused us much pain is no longer in the world.  It doesn’t matter what the other person is doing or thinking or saying or where they are, because the forgiveness isn’t about them so much as it is about a choice within our own heart and mind. They, very well could change based upon our choosing to change our mind about them, but even if they don’t, the change within us will be unmistakable and the peace that flows through our beings will be proof that we can trust in God’s ability to be in charge of our relationships for us.

Let’s give everyone in our life to Him and just be quietly happy and at peace as we allow loving forgiveness to extend out into the world. 

God is Love.  God is all there is.

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.

 “To meditate you only must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy.” Balinese Medicine Man, Ketut Liyer from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Meditation can be complicated or it can be simple. It can happen in many forms or in a form that you choose.  They say that praying is talking to God and meditation is listening. We here in the western world spend far more time talking than listening, not only to God, but to each other and ourselves.

Listening is probably the singular most important activity we can perform for the changing of our minds and our lives.  And yet we seldom take a moment to do it. Being still is perhaps our one greatest challenge.  We were not taught how growing up and most of us can’t even begin to understand the value of a silent mind.  In silence are the answers to every question.  In silence lives the still, small voice of God radiating His Love through us, His Children, if only we would listen.  It isn’t that God’s voice is small; it’s just that our egos are so noisy.  Scientific tests have proven that in being still there are changes in the brain that bring peace to the spirit.

Begin simply. The next time you are in conversation with someone, practice looking into their eyes and really listen to them.  Don’t jump ahead to your next response, but simply take yourself out of the equation and listen.  Listen not just to their words, but to their hearts.  You will hear their pain and their joy.  You will hear beyond words to their very energy.  And then find a moment in the day, even for a minute or two to grow still and listen to your own heart and open to your own energy.  And then go deeper and listen to the Divine energy that lives inside you. In the beginning even a minute or two is enough.  As you do this you will begin to experience feelings you’ve never recognized before and travel to a place inside you that you didn’t know existed. This is the place of inner peace, of Divine Love and delight and joy that lives inside you and is waiting to be heard.  And the more you tap into this inward world, the more time you will want to spend there.

Here is an exercise I call softening the vision.  Whenever you feel tense, upset or stressed, find yourself a corner and simply look upon the person or situation or moment disturbing you in your mind and soften your eyes.  Feel your eyelids grow easy and your eyes become soft.  Then relax your jaw, chin and mouth.  Feel your brow become smooth and calm and let all the tension go out of your face.  If you are in a place where it is appropriate, lift your lips in a quiet, yet confident smile.  You will feel the tension seep from you.  And now everything will seem different.  Less serious.  Less a big deal.  In this state of mind, if you need to resolve something, positive solutions are now free to flow gently into your mind. If you just need to let go of something you’re attached to, softening your vision will allow you to do this. 

And then just practice smiling as you go about your day.  It doesn’t need to be obvious or a big deal.  Just a gentle, quiet relaxing of your face and a small curving up of your lips.  You can practice as you work, as you work out, as you play, as you watch TV, as you grocery shop. Don’t just wait until you have problems, but practice this every day and then when challenges arise, you will find yourself more easily able to handle them.

Smile.  Just Be.  Smile. Simply allow. Smile. 
Smile with your face and with your mind.

“When our gaze is on the present and our eyes smile, we shine on the world we see and the light of our heart goes before us.”

May you walk in peace today knowing you are blessed and a blessing in the world.