Serving Yourself is Service

The message for today is that if you serve yourself, you are serving the world. There is no separation between you and the world so that which is good for you is good for the world. Sounds obvious, I know, but the simplicity is deceiving. You proceed through much of your life feeling like an island when you are, in fact, not. When you express yourself authentically the world wins. I want you—the world needs you—to show up and show up big. What you want, the world wants. Don’t hesitate to be yourself. If everyone did their best the world would be healed.

Today’s Affirmation

My wants are rooted in service.
My gifts are a gift to all.
I have the courage to share.

Act Upon Your Urgings

There is more than one way to get where you are going and you needn’t know where you are going to get there. All I ask is that you proceed. The red carpet is on my back and ready to be laid before you but you must first step forward. My promise is that your foot will never fall on fallow earth. You will be met by me at every turn—always.

You can, of course, sit and wait until the perfectly straight, unobstructed road appears before you. You may wait in the hopes that your journey will be uneventful but you will be waiting a long time. The world and life does not unfold uninterrupted. Life is not simple and linear and neither are you. Life is a pothole-ridden road with unexpected curves that you won’t see until you get there.

So, take a step. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do something. Act upon your urgings. Take a step and watch the scenery change. Know that the horizon will always be the same distant away but each step forward will bring new vistas. Know that you must first trust to move forward. You must have enough faith in yourself to take a deep breath and jump into the abyss. Your fall will be caught.

Just proceed. Unhinge the shackles of your fear and know that the force that is calling you forth is benevolent and for the benefit of all, including you.

Today’s Affirmation

Action is my calling card today.

You Built It, Now Enjoy It

Don’t struggle. Don’t fight the natural inclination of your mind. If your sense of yourself this morning feels stuck and unrelenting do not judge it, nor analyze it into submission. You sense a one-sided fortress holding you back. Don’t hate it, embrace it. You built it, now enjoy it.

Slow down and allow its texture to come into focus. Examine the details embedded in what you perceive to be your barrier. Bask in your walls reflected light. Feel its warmth. Lean against it for shelter and stability. Sit with your back against your self-construction limitations. Take refuge in its strength but know that your fears and anxiety will take no rest—nor will your dreams and aspirations.

The wall you see as your impediment has two sides. You can’t yet see the other side. But one day you will. I promise.

Today’s Affirmation

The view from where I sit right now is perfect.

Build a Bridge

The left and right are opposite one another for a reason—so they can exist independently. They are each self-governing, have their own agenda and are motivated by their own purpose. One can operate, even excel, without help from the other but that does not mean they should. Just because they are islands does not mean they are not connected. Yes, they are separate but together they can be a force to be reckoned with. Build a bridge between them and you will be unstoppable.

On the left is a ready blanket and warm cup of sweet tea. On the right is a bullhorn and whip. On the left is the feminine—the nurturer, the internal dweller, the emotionally mature, giving mother. On the right is the masculine –the manifester, the instigator, the unabashed master of ceremonies, the flame that burns regardless of thunder and rain.

Trust both. Use both. Live both aspects of who you are. You need both elements to dream and manifest. Only when you externalize your internal will you be truly fulfilled.

Your mind is the bridge. Your life is the stage on which your feminine and masculine meet, make love and create a new world.

Today’s affirmation

I am connected, internally and externally.

Unconditional Love

Imagine committing the most heinous, blood curdling crime. Imagine being painfully boring, unimaginative and inactive. Imagine being petty, vindictive, angry and mean-spirited. Imagine being ugly, too skinny with bad teeth and skin. Imagine being a failure, a loser, unpopular, alone, weak, lazy, and unproductive. Imagine being nothing.

Now, imagine someone loving you anyway. Imagine having someone stand by your side with an arm around your shoulder, standing vigil over you, despite all of that.

That is unconditional love. That is what I do. That is who I am. And, that is who you are. Remember, we are one and the same. The question is—can you do that for yourself?

Today’s affirmation

I am a giver and receiver of unconditional love.
Love is healing me.

Alone But Not

You are achingly alone yet intimately connected. This is the most vexing and haunting paradox in your human lives. Learning how to navigate the boundaries between those seemingly contradictory world is the trick of a full and fulfilling life. This is also the irony and challenge of a spiritual practice.

You sit quietly in solitary confinement with only breath and the unbroken chain of your private thoughts. In the safety and familiarity of your psychic isolation you attempt to feel and experience your connection to the world. Utterly alone, without a voice or the courage to give yourself over to something larger than yourself, you sit on your couch and try to tap into the channels of water hidden below the surface that link you to others. You hear from the pulpit (and believe) that you are not alone yet your experience tells you otherwise.

There is no remedy for this paradox. You are alone and you are not alone. You have you own individual experience and that experience is shared by everyone. This may be confusing but it true.

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As a baby you were utterly dependent on others to take care of you, nurture you, love you. As an adult you have learned to take care of yourself, isolate, be distrustful and cynical. In your spiritual practice you must be the vulnerable baby utterly dependent on faith—faith that you are being taken care of, being nurtured, being loved.

Sit by me, day after day. Sit with me and see that I will not fail you. I will not abandon you. I will not judge you. I will love you in your weakness and frailties. I will love you when you take your first step. My heart is big enough to hold you. I will not ever leave you. In your solitude, you are never alone.

Today’s Affirmation

I proceed knowing that my faith proceeds me.

Keeping It Real

MY VOICE:
I can not seem to feel that effervescence of life and love and joy that I know is right there, on the other side of my mind's chatter. There is a heavy cloud obscuring my view. I am weighed down by an opaque blanket of doubt. I can not see, remember, feel or believe in what I know I have experienced in the past. My mind and memory tell me what's possible but I viscerally don't feel it. I feel sad and lost.

SPIRIT VOICE:
Cathy, to be human is to doubt and to lapse and to experience disconnection. All I ask is that you be present to your experience. Being spiritual does not mean being happy all the time. How can you be happy in the face of yesterday's supreme court decision and the world's ills. It is not natural to be elated and ethereal all the time. What I want for you is to embrace how you feel, honor it, learn from it, then share it by being real. You will be alleviated of your human pain only when you face it, examine it's remnants and move on.

I do not want you happy. I want you real. If a cloud hovers over you, thank it for blocking the sun. If a blanket covers you, thank it for its protection. Everything, everything, everything, in every minute, is perfect.

Awareness and acceptance. That is what I want for you and from you.


Today's Affirmation

My strength comes from my willingness to be real.
I embrace the reality of my feelings today.
I believe in and welcome the understanding that is soon to come.