Thursday, November 5, 2009

Hold On. Let Go.

Life is the balance between your deepest intent and the natural unfolding of the universe. It is similar to the dance between long- and short-term planning. You must clarify where you are going in the long term then let go of the short term…

Cathy, I can feel you grasping and anxious about where this offering is going. I invite you to use this morning as a practice session for what we are talking about. You know and you proclaim that you are a courageous writer who is committed to sharing your insight and wisdom with the world. That is your long-term intent. That is who you are.

This individual offering, on this particular morning is your short-term activity. This is the opportunity I am offering you in this moment to let go and allow the universe to unfold. A few sentences ago, you relinquished control and you felt the energy in your hands and body shift. You felt the unleashing of me. You released your control. More importantly, you released your fear that what would reveal itself would not be worthy of your potential. As soon as you let go your fingers starting flying and these last few sentences have emerged effortlessly.

Therein lies the paradox. You must be strong and clear and determined about your intent while releasing and letting the rest of everything else go. Focus on who you are then trust that the universe will come up to meet you.

I know there is nothing new here. You have heard this all before but it bears repeating. Stay focused on the long term and the short term will take care of itself.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Faith in what?

You say you want to be a woman of faith. My question is what do you have faith in? I ask because it is not helpful to have faith solely in me. Have faith in yourself as me. So many of you make the mistake of believing solely in me and leaving yourself out of the equation. Yes, you can have faith that I am ever present and infinite but I am nothing without you. Having faith in me without having faith in yourself is like breathing in a vacuum.

Faith is an empty well without your participation. I am made manifest through physical action. You can sit on your couch and pray like your life depends on it, beseeching me to come to your rescue, but nothing will happen until something physically happens on your plain.

Do not have faith in me. Have faith in yourself as me. I am not interested in you sitting on your couch and throwing your faith up into the sky where I sit waiting to fulfill your dreams. I am interested in you believing, without a shadow of a doubt, in your own magnificence. Have faith in yourself.

I am not going to save you. I am not going to knock on your door and deliver you your redemption like the Publisher’s Clearinghouse van, festooned with balloons. When you pray you are setting a system in motion and, yes, it makes a difference but that is not what will change your life right now. I need your direct and impassioned participation. YOU must act. You must have faith in me in you. The faith you profess to possess is a faith not in divine intervention but in your own capacity for transformation and greatness. Yes, I am a miracle worker but only through you. Without form, there are no miracles. I do my work through you.

Step up and out. Proclaim your faith in me by honoring yourself.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Put Down Your Burdens

The point of coming here and communing with me each morning in this quiet intentional way is so that you can get to know me better. I am a habit that can be hard to acquire. Most habits are hard to break; I am one that’s hard to keep. Your brain is active and engaged in opportunities that present themselves in three dimensions. The world comes at you. It is in your face, poking and prodding you into submission. But I come with you. I am within you. I thrive and operate beyond the obvious and am, therefore, easy to forget.

The point of a morning or evening time of contemplation is to remember. When you light your candle or ring your singing bowl or close your eyes in prayer…you are connecting to your own divinity. When you release the sense of your self as limited and small and shackled to your limiting beliefs about yourself, you feel liberated, you feel powerful, you feel relieved. The walls you’ve constructed that make you feel trapped dissipate in the face of the realization that you are more than your circumstances.

By coming to me in contemplation, you put down your burdens so that your hands are free to receive the next gift.

Coming to me is a gift you give yourself. Now it is time to give it away.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

You are exactly where you need to be. The scene before you may appear, at first glance, to not be changing but it is – in subtle ways. So it is with all things that are worth waiting for. The transitions will appear to be invisible but they are unfolding regardless of appearances. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not happening.

You come here to me to recommit to your far away vision. You know what is beyond the horizon. You know what awaits you but the pathways between here and there are obscured.

All I ask is that you don’t give up before the victory. Trust that the uninterrupted expanse that lays out before is not as empty as it appears. The rains will soon come and the dry fields will become lush. Don’t allow that which presents itself to you today dissuade you from your mission. Transformation is upon us.