Where’s the fun in that?

Last week on the Hay House World Summit 2013, I heard an interview with Deepak Chopra.  At one point in the conversation he spoke about fun.  He mentioned something in regards to the responsibility of bringing fun to relationships, entering into relationships that are fun, which will then lead to having a life of fun.  Fun + Fun = Fun.  With this I pondered about the fun in everyday life.  

In my day to day working environment, I have the opportunity to work face-to-face with the public.  Often times I ask for their email address for communication purposes.  On occasion, a pause will come, and look of embarrassment will wash over their face before actually speaking their address.  This happens, usually, because these addresses were created when they were much younger and carefree.  Some of the addresses are comical and funny.

In 2008 I chose to open a Twitter account.  I remember vividly making the choice to create my username.  At this stage in the game of life I was a full-fledged adult.  I was married with children and I was not young and carefree.  However, I looked at twitter as a fun site, not the informational carrier it is today.  I chose the username @funsep.  I remember thinking about wanting my life to be full of fun.  Flash forward to the present 2013 me in the world of twitter.  At times, I find myself in similar situations as the public I work with.  However, I created this username when I was an adult, I was fully aware of the choice.  Knowing that, I remind myself the reason I created it in the first place. I want my life to be full of fun.  Fully embracing my choice, I see my username as an affirmation and a proclamation.

Affirmation: Today I look for the fun in my everyday life.  I bring fun as me. The party starts as me.  I enter into conversations of laughter.  I am light-hearted with humor and fun!

And So It Is. Amen.

Now Be Aware That You Are A Creative Force

How many people does it take to change the world?

Say to the Universe; "Let it happen NOW, use Me.

Then get out of the way and watch it happen - @EkartTolle

How many people does it take to change the world?
One.

I'm Kind of a Big Deal...

...and so are you.

It's taken me a long time to realize what a big deal I am...and what a big deal you are and you, and you, and you....

Well, a big deal we all are.

As my kids played in the pool today, my mind went on a magical journey of wonderment.

I started thinking about how blessed I was to have the two little boys that I do.  Then I started to think what a big deal they are to the world.

I don't know what they'll do in life, I just know they are a big deal.

Then I started thinking how we are ALL such a big deal to the world right now and how important it is for all of us to bring our individual gifts to the world.

It needs EACH of our gifts right now.  That's why we were born when we were, to whom we were born, and at the time in the Earth's evolution that we were born into.

Have you ever pondered this and then experience an overwhelming curiosity about how big the Universe is?  And then, dwindle down this bigness to yourself and realizing how there is no accident that you are here at this very time?

There is a precise reason.

There is a precise gift you have to help evolve our world.

Do not allow it to pass.  Do not ignore it.  WE need YOU.  YOU need ME.  I need YOU!

Allow me to experience your gift.  Allow me to reap the rewards of having your gift in the world.  Allow the Universe the gift it expected of you when it sent you here at this time.

Just grasp the greatness of who you are, cause like me, you're kind of a big deal!

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Just the other day, Rev. Pattie Mercado and I were having a conversation about Thomas Troward, who was one of the key influences on Dr. Ernest Holmes and the teachings of the Science of Mind, and it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes of his:

"You never get what you want just because you want it.  But you always get what you believe whether you want it or not."  

This is such a statement of freedom for me.  Why?   Have you ever prayed or pleaded for something like winning the lottery, getting the perfect, well-paying job, or finding the perfect mate even though you didn't feel deserving of it?  When you really go within yourself and examine those pleads or prayers, did you really believe that you were going to attain them or was it just hopeful (doubtful) thinking?  The freedom for me is knowing that believing is seeing, rather than seeing is believing. When everything in your heart and soul is telling you yes, that is believing.  When your head is messing with you, telling you why you should or why you shouldn't believe something or move forward with it, that is simply the ego or fear trying to make sense of whatever your dream is.

One of my all-time favorite movies is "Field of Dreams," not only because it involves baseball, but because of the profound leap of faith and belief Ray (played by Kevin Cosner) took to allow his dream to unfold at the risk of losing all of his and his family's material wealth.  Listen and watch the argument between his intuition and his ego...

"People will come."  BELIEVE in your dream, and watch it manifest!

What is the Divine Masculine?

Sunday is Fathers Day. It is a day to honor our dads. My intention is to honor men -- God knows they have had their fair share of  ragging on, dismissing, distrust and jokes about their unworthiness, their lack of compassion or their brutality. Yes, there are some brutes out there! I will concede that point, but there are so many good men too. As I was researching the Divine Masculine (which is part of both women and men) I realized that even the men that scare me have redeeming qualities. And maybe being scared isn't all it's cracked up to be! The six archetypes of the Divine Masculine are God, King, Sage, Lover, Warrior, and Priest. We all can develop these qualities.  The Divine Masculine is the part of us that chooses, initiates, causes things to happen. It is a very important part of our spiritual make-up.

Lela & Gordon Clark, and Neil & Geraldine Burrell

What I really want to write about is my father, Gordon Douglas Clark. Most readers of this blog may not have met him.  He made his transition twenty years ago, but continues to influence my life today. It has been said that our parents' job is to develop both roots and wings in their children. Roots so they will remember what is important and wings so they can look after themselves. 

Dad was the youngest child in a family of three boys; the oldest became a geo-physicist, the second a dentist and my dad was a teacher. These men loved ideas and when they were together there would be  much laughter, not joke telling as much as story-telling about themselves and their friends. They all loved language and were always quipping and playing with concepts. 

Dad also loved to sing. One of the highlights of my childhood was family car  trips because the whole family would sing for hours. Later when I learned to play piano, I learned those old standards that the family loved to sing. Then finally, when dad's Alzheimers' had robbed him of his quick wit and logical thinking, I made a cassette tape for him that contained all the old standards that he loved to sing -- "Let me Call You Sweetheart," "Side by Side" and dozens of others. Although I lived nine hours away, I could participate in our family sing-alongs. My sister would take it to the care facility and they would enjoy an evening of singing.

He was a very good dancer, but I could never follow him!

Gordon & Lela dancing

I have many favorite memories of my dad but the one that is heaviest on my heart today, is getting a letter from him offering me support when I was nursing a broken heart; it seemed to me that I was often feeling abandoned and rejected by the ones I loved. Dad wrote the sweetest note, quoting Tennyson, "Tis better to have loved and lost/ Than never to have loved at all." I was in my thirties then and I had not expected that kind of kindness and love. I guess I had expected outer voices to match my inner tormenter, who was yelling at me for choosing such a scoundrel in the first place.

There are so many stories I could share about my dad. He passed twenty years ago this August. I miss him still. So much of who I am came from my dad.

What are your special memories about your father?

My family 1979

My family 1991

My family 1961

We Think That What We Do Doesn't Matter

“It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world” ~ Chaos Theory

When they say "God is expressing in you and through you" I always get a little concerned.

It feels like quite a responsibility.

If my thoughts, words and actions are the thoughts, words and actions of God (insert your fininte word for the Infinite with the least emotional baggage) expressing through me it seems as though I should take a little more care as to what is thought, said and done.

I've had a statement rolling around in my head the last few days. I just can't get it out of my mind.

We think that what we do doesn't matter. 

And I am just beginning to see how many ramifications there are to this untruth.

We can think we are too small to make change. We can think that there is nothing we can do in this big world to make it better.

We can think we don't have a contribution to make, a worthy gift to give.

We can think our children aren't watching are very moves, our very gestures, our words.

We can think our presence (or sometime our absense) will not matter, that we do not count, that nothing we could do would be worthy of making change.

But we would be wrong.

Trusting My Good Increases My Happiness!

This month at our center the theme is happiness. I find myself thinking about it a lot, talking about it with parents, youth and other students of life like myself. My belief about happiness is being happy comes naturally. It's natural to be happy. One idea presented during my happiness research this month is that we each have a "set point" like a default on the thermostat for our happiness. In this model, no matter what the outside circumstances spike at (the highs and the lows) eventually I will find myself once again at my own default. I can reflect back on my life and see this pattern which is not exactly "making me happy".  So my question becomes how do I really get happy and stay happy? How do I reset my happiness thermostat to default at a higher level, how do I increase my capacity? 

One thing I absolutely know and trust is that whenever there is a question the answer will be revealed. A solution to every problem exists. This morning as I walked through my house I saw the answer written on my wall. Literally, there it was in beautiful elegant writing, framed, hanging where I see it many times every day reminding me of my good. 

In this moment my good comes to me

enough and to spare, to give and to share.

It can never be exhausted, my good can never be depleted

because that Source from which my good comes is inexhaustible.

Today in this moment, the Law responds to my thought.

My word is one of affirmation, rising from the knowledge

that the Good, the Enduring and the True are Eternalities 

in my experience. I cannot be apart from that which is my good.

My good is assured me by God, that Indwelling Essence of my life.

                                         - Ernest Holmes

How am I incereasing my happiness? By trusting that indwelling source from which all good comes. How are you increasing your happiness?