Are You a High Roller?

One of the highlights of the Centers for Spiritual Living annual Leadership Conference was a trip on the High Roller, slow moving Ferris wheel that is designed to see the lights of Las Vegas. We were part of a group that were being honored fro supporting our parent organization financially. Each pod holds up to 40 people. It was comfortable and unlike any ride I have ever before experienced, much slower than the theme parks. At the top we were 550 feet above ground.

Waiting in Line for High Roller

It was a great deal of fun to look at the tops of the casinos and see their massiveness. Sometimes we need to get up above our situation to see the big picture, to put our life in perspective. Of course, you don't need to go to Vegas to accomplish this. 

View From the High Roller

You simply need to be able to see without judgement the direction and tendencies of your life. From the higher point of view, we don't have to watch every little thought or feeling, but rather be willing to notice the tendency of our consciousness. And if it isn't to our liking, we need to be able to take charge and change our thinking, which results in a changed life.

Last week I had a couple of physical challenges, not really challenges, more like reminders. I started sneezing, my nose was running, I felt really tired even though I had had enough sleep. 

What did I do? I took a long nap. Then I journaled about my health. I soon realized that I wasn't looking after my body. I didn't judge myself. I simply noticed. That awareness itself changed my conditions. It was as if I had seen something from a great height. had accepted it for what it was and decided to make my mind.

Me on the High Roller

Spiritual Tools to Finish the Race by Karen Meyer

Karen Meyer Proves She Can

I decided to walk the LA Marathon in 2013 all of a month and a half before the race. I’d never been an athlete, but, hey, I’d been walking regularly
for about a year, so I figured I could do it. I’d always been fascinated
with marathons. Something about finding a speed and a rhythm, something
about the tenacity of it appeals to me.

I signed up.

“Stadium to the Sea”. Los Angeles to Santa Monica. Walking on Los Angeles
streets, cleared of traffic just for us. 26.2 miles.

The race started from Dodger Stadium at 7:30 in the morning. Thousands of
us in giant corrals, one pack starting after another. The serious runners
were in the first group. I was in the very last group. I was a walker.
But I was just enjoying the whole scene: masses of people who showed up
just to cheer us on, bands set up on street corners, volunteers passing
out water and orange slices. I kept trying to figure out what my pace was
from the giant clocks, but between potty stops and the fact that I didn’t
know what time my corral actually started... I stopped trying.

Mile 10: I knew LA really well, so I was continually amazed to look around
and realize “Wow, I just walked to HERE!” and “Look where I am NOW!”.
Mile 15: my sister called. She was following my progress online. She told
me from Michigan what my pace was and what time I was expected to finish.
16-and-a-half-minute miles! I was on pace......in spite of the potty
breaks! YES!!! 

Mile 18: a friend called. By then I was starting to feel pain in my left
foot. I was favoring it. “It’s just pain” I told him, “it’s not going to
slow me down.”

But by mile 20, the pain was all the way up my leg to my hip. My entire
left leg was in pain. I was hobbling.

I had known that at some point in the race I would turn it into a walking
meditation. Now was the time. I turned inward, I focused on my feet. Heel,
toe, heel, toe, heel, toe...

I tried once taking a break by leaning up against a tree. Big mistake. It
was really painful to start walking again. Better to simply walk.
Heel, toe, heel, toe, heel, toe....

Mile 23: the cramping started. First in my left leg, then my right. Every
step was excruciatingly painful. I started prayer treatment: “Infinite
Spirit is everywhere present, Infinite Spirit is in every cell of my body,
in every cell of my legs, in the space between the cells...”

Aaahh, the cramping dissipated. Good, I can stop that...

Aarrgghh... “Infinite Spirit is everywhere present...”

If someone had seen me—and believe me, no one was looking, the few of us
still walking were each in our own private hells—they would have seen me
walking  down the street with my eyes closed, talking out loud to myself,
like a crazy person.

That last stretch seemed to take forever. It seemed I’d never reach the sea.
But when I finally saw Ocean Avenue a few blocks away, I knew I could
finish. Those of us who were still walking had been at it over 7 hours.
The race was officially long over. We were the stragglers.

I remember only one other person on that last stretch with me. Well, two.
A young man, seventeen-ish, fit, tall. He was shuffling his feet. And he
had one arm draped over the shoulder of a middle-aged man—father? coach?
As I passed him, I heard the older man trying to propel him on. “When you
commit to something, you finish it. You finish what you start.”

As I passed him, I could see that this young man had absolutely nothing
left in him. I imagined that seven hours ago he had started this race
running. I imagined he thought he would conquer it. This young man who had
everything over me: youth, fitness, long legs. He was empty, absolutely
empty. I was passing him. Me.

“You finish what you start.”? Boy, that wouldn't do it for me, not that
day, not at mile 26.1.

What I had, that in his youth he didn't yet have, was internal strength.
He had it over me in spades on the physical plane, but I had the internal
strength and spiritual tools to finish that race. 

And I did.

The Finish Line

Always Do Your Best, Sunday Service

I always do my best but I don't overdo. I honor the Divine that I am and express myself in the best way possible. I realize that "my best" changes from moment to moment,and whenever I do my best, I avoid self-judgment and regret. And so it is.

Congratulations Reverend Pattie Mercado

Thursday, February 19, Rev. Patttie Mercado was honored by Centers for Spiritual Living, our parent organization, as the Youth Champion. Pattie definitely deserves this award for all she does in our Center: Kids Day Out, Middle Group, Sunday Mornings, Catalina Camp, and Parent Forum to name a few. She also is the Youth Director for the European conference in Geneva Switzerland. She is the Youth Coordinator or Region 1, which includes Orange County and San Diego County.

We are very blessed to have her as our Youth and Family Director. Here are a few pictures of  the award being presented.

Don't Make Assumptions Sunday Service

I don't make assumptions. I communicate confidently, cleanly and clearly and avoid misunderstandings and drama. If I have a question, I have a right to ask for clarity, and that is when all my relationships transform. And so it is.

She Was Trying to Find Our Thriving Community

Recently a new student told me that she had a dream about me in which I had created a thriving village; she said that it was well-planned featuring all the best practices of a small community, organic food, collaborative living, safety. friendliness and service to the bigger community. She said she knew all about this wonderful community but she couldn't get to it and was trying her best to get there.

Now this was her dream! I can not possibly say what it meant to her, but I was thrilled because I think of our Center as a community. Sometimes I am able to practice best practices and start with the end in mind, do my spiritual practices, live in the present moment, and live the life I want to live. And sometimes I fall short from the vision!

Don Miguel Ruiz says that we set such high expectations for ourselves that we can never meet them -and then feel badly about ourselves.

What is my current vision for our community? It is almost always the same. There are many people in the Center. They are happy, chatting, talking laughing and engaged in activities.They are helpful and friendly.  I envision us radiating light -- we are setting an example for all people to include all others in their activities. We are known in the greater community for our generosity and our care. We are care-takers of our planet and live in harmony with all. I see our Center as having activities and programs for everyone from the youngest to the oldest. I see all people living from an awareness of their oneness with Source, living in harmony and love for all. I see huge classes of new students who are learning about their divine nature and sharing themselves in  world. I see it being the norm to be honest, open and vulnerable. I see social activities that are well-attended. I hear the sounds of fantastic music, opening hearts and minds.

What do I or we need to do to move towards the dream?

First, understand that Creative Mind is always listening.

Second, see it as happening now.

Third, release any resentment, blame or complaint.

Fourth, let people know you care about them.

Fifth, make it easy for people to find us.

What are your thoughts?

Don't Take Anything Personally, Sunday Service

I don't take anything personally. I allow the words and opinions of others to just "be" and do not get hurt by them. I remember that what others think of me is none of my business. I am free! 

 And so it is.

Don't Take It Personally

I love how the Universe always supplies us with whatever we need. Next Sunday, my topic is "Don't Take Anything Personally." When I returned from my trip to Canada to visit my mom, I came back to a note  "For Heather only." It was an anonymous hate note. I think the writer's intention was for me to chastise and berate myself. What people say about you speaks volumes about them.

Thankfully, I re-read The Four Agreements on my flight home from Canada.  I was prepared to read from awareness of the inner sacred self and not to form an agreement with the hater to hate more. Self-hatred is the most dangerous kind. I am always at choice to think different thoughts.

Don Miguel Ruiz writes that we are living in a dream in which we have incorrect beliefs about ourselves and therefore about others. 

I am glad that i am awakening to my spiritual magnificence and attempting to stay connected to spiritual truth. I know that the old me, secretly believing that I wasn't good enough, would have tried to protect myself by striking back. (Albeit, somewhat blindly because I don't know who sent the letter.) I definitely would have berated myself for not being a good enough minister. In a way, I invited the criticism because I secretly believed it to be true. That self abuse has to stop now!

As Terry Cole-Whittaker wrote, "What you think of me, is none of my business!" However, what I think of me is really my business! And because what we think about, with feeling, comes about, there must be a matching experience in the world of effects.

Rudyard Kipling first published the poem, If, in 1909. the first verse is:

"If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you,If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,But make allowance for their doubting too;If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:"

Ironically Kipling had a sad and tragic life yet his poem has inspired millions of readers to live a life of hich Don Miguel Ruiz would approve.

The next time you are tempted to feel bad about someone else's opinion of you, I encourage you to ask yourself if the Divine Presence would berate Itself. You know It could not. You are made in It's image and are worthy of good thoughts and experiences.

Be Impeccable With Your Word Sunday Service

I am impeccable with my word. I use the power of my word to speak with integrity in the direction of truth and love. I take responsibility for my actions and allow the impeccability of my word to create beauty, love and heaven on earth. And So It Is!

Gems Of Truth