The Creative Impulses of the Soul

As light increases on the Earth, the creative impulses of the soul become stronger and the desire to express what is most true and most deeply held begins to feel more urgent. Being aware of these deepening motivations allows a choice to be made. One can stay with the more tightly bound habits of the past, or one can embrace the expansion and motivation to expand and be willing to risk moving into a new and unforeseen future.

No matter which choice is made, the pressure to integrate more fully with one's own soul identity is part of the time we are in. It is not an individual phenomenon but a planetary one. Despite the changes that this is bringing and will bring to relationships everywhere, it will also allow life individually and collectively to become more truthful, more caring, and more real.

Interacting With Others as Souls

The world is still greatly in need of healing, and one of the areas in which this is evident is the way in which work often dehumanizes people, casting them into narrow roles where they are compelled to separate themselves from their heart.

The next time you are involved in a difficult conversation with someone in a role - a salesperson, customer service representative, technical support person, consider this: each is a soul, and every person, if they really could choose, would choose to live with their hearts intact and not separate themselves from what is most important. Our current view of work and of relationships in general creates this separation. It is important to try, therefore, to get past this obstacle and to wish for others what they would wish for themselves - the possibility of living and working as a whole being with a whole heart.

In interacting with others, even when they are identified with their roles, see if you can still remain in your own heart. The practice of compassion will take you out of whatever role you are in and center you in a wider sphere of truth.

The Choice for Consciousness

The refinement and growth of conscious awareness is part of spiritual evolution. It is what enables greater freedom to take place within the individual and within one's life.

And yet many are reluctant to become more conscious, partly out of fear, and partly because it seems like work. The truth is that there is no other work that one takes embodiment for except to become more conscious. Despite the great variety of human experience and the variability of cultures, societies, and historical epochs, each human being, at whatever point they are at in their journey, is here to become more conscious.

If you are afraid, then, to learn more about yourself, or think there is nothing more to learn, perhaps it is time to look more deeply at your fear in that particular area, since all of light and love are here to support you. New doors are opening within you to think, feel, and love with greater freedom. It may be time to embrace these opportunities which will bring you to your own Divine self. Blessings.

The Practice of Respect

Respect, like many other spiritual practices, is something that can be experienced at deeper and deeper levels. Most people practice respect according to the norms of their culture and society, learning ways of speaking and acting toward elders, those in authority, friends, colleagues, etc. This is the simple encoding or conditioning of behavior through collective agreement and it is an important feature of what society teaches in order to maintain itself.

However, respect from a spiritual perspective is deeper than this. It has to do with viewing others outside of their roles as souls and children of God. This kind of respect grows in a natural way as the connection with one's own soul-essence deepens, but along the way there are things that can be done, and ways of perceiving that can be cultivated that foster the development of respect for the soul of others.

1. Allow your world to unify. Look at everyone you meet as a soul whether they are serving you lunch in a restaurant, driving a bus, or speaking rudely to you in passing. Their soul-nature is not dependent on their outer behavior.

2. Become aware of judgments you have concerning the behavior of another. Forgive yourself the judgment and ask for healing of all judgments. In the place of judgment, affirm the Divine soul-nature of the other silently to yourself.

3. Understand that you cannot take something from another that does not belong to you without it diminishing or hurting you at the same time. Many still live in fear about not having what they need, and so 'taking something' rather than asking for it or waiting for it to be given, whether physical or emotional, is a not uncommon practice. When fear diminishes through the incorporation of trust in the Divine, the desire to respect all of life - persons, animals, the Earth, one's own body - is a natural outgrowth. The capacity to wait for life to bring what is needed also follows.

Namaste.

Being Part of the Flow

Many things are changing now within the internal landscape as well as outwardly, and as a result of these shifts, relationships are changing. These changes can be gentle and progressive or sudden and unpredictable. In either case, the important thing is to be able to trust the flow of life, to believe in the future, and to open one's hands to let go of the past.

Letting go of the past in the presence of change requires a secure conviction that one will be alright with an unknown outcome. The sense of 'alright-ness' must therefore lie within the self, rather than be attributed to someone else or something else. This is an important shift that must take place if one is to grow emotionally and spiritually, and also if one is to ride the currents of change that are moving through life.

In the presence of change, one can be part of the flow or resist it. The difference typically has to do with the choice between fear and trust. How much can you trust yourself, trust life, trust God in the presence of the Unknown? This is the area of growth for many, now, and the answer to this question will determine how gracefully you can move through a time of change. All blessings be with you.

Which Reality Do You Choose?

We make the choice to be more conscious or less conscious in each moment of every day. Which reality do you choose?

Often, the response to this question is determined by how much discomfort we are feeling and whether the need to 'get away from it' is more important than the need to become more aware of it, its quality, its source.

Consciousness is a great gift and a great responsibility. The feeling exists within the separated state that certain things cannot be looked at too closely or faced without great danger. Within the increasingly present state of at-one-ment, consciousness becomes more possible since the sense of integration with one's larger identity allows more internal space to see what is actually there.

May all beings be blessed with the space created by light to embrace the self on all levels. Amen.

Being Present to What Is

There is a spiritual currency in use now concerning being in the 'Now', the present moment, without exactly knowing what that means. One of the things it is taken to mean is an acceptance of what IS. However, what IS exists in the eye of the beholder until that beholder begins to see clearly. What IS exists outside the self and inside - one not more than the other. Therefore, in order to be present NOW, one has to engage with reality on all levels.

Acceptance can be superficial or it can be deep and filled with love and compassion. A measure of engagement with the NOW is the degree to which the heart is attuned to its natural state, without defenses and without fear. When this state is present, one is here and open to all experience. This engagement of the heart IS the present moment. It is here for all. It is All. Be willing to open your heart further and you will find it. Blessings.

Listening

Listening is a beautiful thing. To hear what someone else is truly saying to you through words, and gestures, and through what is behind these is a revelation of the soul of another.

Listening is a sacred act that allows others to become beloveds. It is a gesture of the heart and of selflessness which allows the other to be as important to you as you are to yourself. Blessings.