SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION

"Each moment and whatever happens thrills me with joy." 

~ Walt Whitman ~

Things have a way of working out- not my way necessarily, but a way nonetheless, complete with blessings and challenge and take-away lessons. I believe that everything can be used to our advantage and that whatever happens can be fuel for our spiritual evolution. I believe we are bigger than this one life, and bigger than this human drama. I believe that this earth is a classroom for us, and that from whatever may or may not happen, we can grow.

I embrace this life journey and learn from all that I experience.

SHIFTING OUR SYNTAX

"Remember, whatever you focus upon, increases." 

~ Andy Andrews ~

Rather than trying to be less of something that we don't want- less critical, less abrasive, less controlling- let's shift our syntax slightly and choose instead to be more of what we do want. Let's be more understanding, more willing to live and let live, and more genteel. It makes a difference how we think about it, and it makes a difference how we proceed.

I focus on what I want instead of what I don't want.

EMOTIONAL POLLUTION

"A cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." 

~Oscar Wilde ~

Negativity is an infectious pestilence, a scourge on the earth and in the public domain. We don't have to be Pollyanna and chipper all the time about everything, but let's not suck the air out of a room with a dark, defeated, and dismal point-of-view.

I look for the good in things and people, and purvey hope instead of doom and gloom. 

GOOD MEDICINE

"Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance." 

~ Epicurus ~

I love hearth fires. There is something soothing about the heat, the smoke, and the flickering light. Fires, in this way, are good medicine.
     But out-of-control, they are rapacious and threatening. That something so healing and beautiful can so quickly become such a deadly force is a powerful lesson. It suggests perhaps that there is more to temperance and moderation than we might, initially, want to believe.

I enjoy all things in good measure, and avoid extremes wherever they want to pull me.

THE LIMITATIONS OF FIXED BELIEFS

"Learn to go beyond the jabbering of your mind... to the deeper aspects of your consciousness..." 

~ Swami Rama ~

I can be at peace inside even if it's noisy. I don't think I can, but I can. It's a question of allowing and adjusting, of letting be what is. I fall into all or nothing thinking. I have fixed beliefs and they limit me like a straight-jacket.
     But life is variable and constantly changing. The challenge of this moment is quickly forgotten as we move on to the challenge of the next.

I can be ok with whatever happens. No matter what it is, this too shall pass.

TIME

"But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day." 

~ Benjamin Disraeli ~

Time is a fascinating thing. We have both more of it and less of it than we think. The key, I am certain, is to simply enjoy it, but we tend to make demands instead. We insist on good times, and hard times, and running out of time. We think in absolutes. We impose ourselves upon it, and want something from it. We expect it to give us something to satisfy us, but time passes on like a winding river making its way, and doesn't seem to care what we expect, or how we feel.
     Desire is at the root of all of our suffering. If we could stop wanting time to be something or deliver something in particular to us, and enjoy whatever the day presents, I wonder how much happier our journey might be.

I relax and experience the rhythm of the day.

I BELIEVE IN US!

"If you hear a voice within you say 'You cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." 

~ Vincent Van Gogh ~

You're worth it. You're worth your time, attention, compassion, energy, and love. You're worth fighting for, worth caring about, and worth investing in. You're worth happiness, worth success, worth soul satisfaction, the manifestation of your dreams, and unending bliss.
     We sell ourselves down the river. We discount ourselves at every turn. We criticize and demean our efforts. We sabotage our progress and stall our hopes. But we don't have to. We have a choice. We can choose to believe that we matter. But if we can't, for whatever reason, then at least know that I am here steadily believing it for us, for however long it takes.

I am valuable beyond measure and worthy of my highest hopes.