A "Lost and Found" Demonstration

Over the holidays my husband Sean and I flew from Michigan to California to visit family and friends.  It was the first time taking our daughter, 7 1/2 weeks old at the time, on a plane!  The morning of our flight we were up early getting everything dialed in, all was going well.  We were in "perfect divine right order" the whole way and our trip out was smooth sailing.  Then, a couple days in, I go looking for our laptop... and it is nowhere to be found.  My heart sinks as I realize we must have forgotten it at the TSA security check back in Detroit.  It's a thin silver MacBook Air, they made us put it in it's very own bin, there was so much to grab and think about with the baby. We left it there. It was gone.  

My first thought was that we would never get it back.  My NEXT thought was YES we will absolutely get it back!  I immediately went to work changing my first thought, refusing every idea that we had lost our laptop for good.  Going into affirmative prayer I recognized that God is all there is and that nothing can be lost, everything is in it's perfect place.  I imagined being at the airport to get our laptop back.  I felt so much GRATITUDE that it had been returned to us.  I thanked the person, the individualized expression of God, that found the laptop and turned it in so that it would be waiting for us when we got back.  I released my word and KNEW that it was so.  Then I told Sean, and helped him also grab onto the idea that we were so happy and grateful with our laptop returned to us with ease and grace, thank you God.

My next step was to take action... so I went to the DTW website and found the area to submit a claim to their lost and found department.  The entire time I continued to consciously be "so happy and grateful now that" our laptop was returned.  Because it was going to be.  It had to be.  I was so disappointed by the thought of it being lost, I refused to accept it.  So I did my best to only entertain the right idea... the one that I wanted... not that other possible outcome of it being gone forever.  

There were many times during the two weeks in California where I would catch myself thinking something like "oh I should tell Sean to change his google chrome password, because if someone ...WAIT - NO! That's not necessary because our laptop will be returned to us.  I am so happy and grateful now that our laptop is returned with ease and grace, thank you God.  Thank you every aspect of this One that is involved in the process of our laptops return.  Thank you Thank you Thank you God!"

It's the type of situation where you've done just about all you can do, and so all you can do now is wait... wait for an outcome to an event that is completely outside of your control.  So while one waits in this type of situation, it is in ones best interest to "stand guard at the portal of your mind" as Emerson said (I hope I am quoting him correctly), and make sure you are thinking the right thoughts - the thoughts that affirm the desired outcome you WANT from this event which is outside of your control.  The other option is to worry about the outcome you don't want.  Being a student of the Science of Mind, I knew where to keep my attention, so I kept planting seeds of gratitude for my desired outcome and the return of our laptop!

Fast forward ... we arrive back in Detroit, where the temperature is a high of 28F, and head home.  I search my email for a response to my lost and found request... there is a reply!! YES!!  It says... it says that they don't have our item.  I take a deep breath and then let it out.  Then I laugh a little because I know they have it, they just don't know they have it!!  At that moment the idea occurs to me that I should just go to the airport and visit their lost and found department in person.  Then I would know for sure. But I didn't go right away, it was freezing cold and I would have to take the baby and oh what a hassle... so instead I stayed inside my warm house and kept an eye on my email... and continued to be grateful for our returned laptop.

A week goes by... I have not gotten a new email about our item.  I am starting to feel discouraged, it's almost been 30 days and in my mind there is an assumed rule that anything in the lost and found for over 30 days is up for grabs.  Then it's Wednesday, I have my prayer partner calls on Wednesday, and this is definitely what I needed to pray about - I hate the idea of our little laptop being gone forever!  Everything of ours on it, gone.  Possibly in the hands of another person!  No!  Cancel cancel wipe it away, that thought is NOT my desired outcome! 

During the prayer call, the idea came up again that I really should just go to the airport and visit the lost and found office. That is the only way to know for sure.  I vowed to do it that day and so later that afternoon baby Angelika and I went to visit the airport.  It was 15 degrees out but hey at least it wasn't snowing!  Upon arrival at the airport terminal I asked where the lost and found office was located and luckily it very close to where I was (not waaaaay at the other end of this huge place).  

I walk to the office and tell the woman there what we lost and the day we traveled.  She heads into the back room and I think "this is it, this is when our laptop is returned to us! Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God"... and I kept repeating it in my head, almost under my breath, until the woman emerges from the back room with our thin silver MacBook Air in her hand and I say out loud "oh thank God it's here!"  A huge smile spreads across my face.  I am so happy and grateful now that our laptop is returned!  Their email response to me was wrong, our laptop was here!  

Though I knew and affirmed it all along, I was so relieved to have it demonstrated.  Thank you God!  And so it is.

I Won't Give Up

Have you ever had a favorite song that you've listened to hundreds of times, literally hundreds, and then all of a sudden you hear it with new ears and see it in a whole new way??  That is what happened to me this morning...

I am a HUGE fan of Jason Mraz, have been since I first heard him my freshman year of college.  His 2012 album, LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD, came out the year I married my best friend and the most amazing man in my world.  We danced our first dance to Mraz's I'm Yours.  We were lucky enough to see him on his album tour and caught him in Barcelona, Spain on the last leg of our honeymoon.  It was a phenomenal show, the picture above was from that night.  This album has become one of my favorites because so much of it sings to the creative process, to Love and Law and how we interact with it.

The song I heard (again) this morning, released in January 2012, is called I Won't Give Up... maybe you've heard it?  It is definitely a love song, and I've always heard it from the perspective of a person singing to the person they love.

This morning, while watching the video below, I heard it completely differently...

Imagine singing these lyrics to all your brothers and your sisters.  All of humanity.  All of us... right here, right now... just as we are, and just as we are not.  Those that you love, and those that maybe you don't love so much, or not at all.  

Realizing that truly we are all one with the One, we all come from the One Creator of all Life... I know that Spirit, God, Divine Love is in us, as us, and through us.  I have faith.  

I won't give up on us.  

When I look into your eyes

It's like watching the night sky

Or a beautiful sunrise

There's so much they hold

And just like them old stars

I see that you've come so far

To be right where you are

How old is your soul?

Well, I won't give up on us

Even if the skies get rough

I'm giving you all my love

I'm still looking up

And when you're needing your space

To do some navigating

I'll be here patiently waiting

To see what you find

'Cause even the stars they burn

Some even fall to the earth

We've got a lot to learn

God knows we're worth it

No, I won't give up

I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily

I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make

Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use

The tools and gifts we got, yeah, we got a lot at stake

And in the end, you're still my friend at least we did intend

For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn

We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in

I had to learn what I've got, and what I'm not, and who I am

I won't give up on us

Even if the skies get rough

I'm giving you all my love

I'm still looking up, still looking up.

Well, I won't give up on us (no I'm not giving up)

God knows I'm tough enough (I am tough, I am loved)

We've got a lot to learn (we're alive, we are loved)

God knows we're worth it (and we're worth it)

I won't give up on us

Even if the skies get rough

I'm giving you all my love

I'm still looking up

(THANK YOU JASON MRAZ!!!)

I Love You.

I love you.

A simple statement.  Most of us reserve these words for those nearest and dearest to our hearts - family, loved ones, very close friends.  We'll often say "I love this" or "I love that" about stuff or situations that we like... but think about how often you hear the words "I love YOU."  We know by now it is not only romantic love.  The power and energy of LOVE is something much greater.

This past weekend I picked up a book that was sitting on my shelf staring at me as I sat on the couch, for some reason it caught my eye.  I really felt the need to pick this book up and start reading it, even though I had purchased this book over a year ago, was already in the middle of two other books and had plenty on my to do list.  Following my intuition, I picked up the book and started reading it Saturday afternoon and by Tuesday I had finished it!

The book is called Zero Limits by Joe Vitale.  It tells the story of Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len who cleared a ward of the criminally insane using only the Ho'oponopono prayer and never actually seeing any patients in a therapeutic setting.  The ideas shared in the book are quite simple and amazing.  The suggestion is to take 100% responsibility for our life, and everything we encounter in it, and constantly "clean" our life experience and what we encounter by repeating the words of the prayer, addressing it to the Divine, or God. The words are simple but strong...

I love you.

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

So simple!  The power in these words is that they speak to the Divine in each of us, in everything really.  If each and every one of us were to take 100% responsibility for our life, bless everything and everyone with love and forgiveness, live life treating each other as the Divine expressions that we each are, imagine what a beautiful world we would live in - a world that truly works for everyone!

Now I find myself saying "I love you" to absolutely everything.  EVERYTHING!  People, places, things, situations, conditions, circumstances.  I choose LOVE.  I choose to be love, give love, recognize love, love love.  I am not even sure what that means sometimes but that doesn't matter.  When I simply repeat "I love you" quietly in my mind I am changing my consciousness, slowly but surely change is taking place.

Why bother doing this?  Maybe there are some things going on in your life that you don't like... doesn't matter what it is.  It could be your job, where you live, your body-perception, your relationships... we all have something that bothers us or we don't like.  My new practice is to simply repeat "I love you", quietly in my own mind, when I see or think of these things I don't like or don't want in my life.  I've heard it said that when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.  Miracles happen!

Peace begins with me...  With you...  With each and every one of us...

I love you.

(Repeat often for an improved life experience!)

(collage created by my cousin Nicole and her two lovely daughters, Tegan and Maslyn)

For more information on the prayer, the book, or the author... Google it!!

CSLCV 2013 Year in Review

Last Sunday was our General Annual Meeting for the members of Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley. One of the highlights of this meeting is to watch the presentation of last years pictorial year in review.

For those of you who were not there to see the debut last Sunday, I wanted to share it with you (and the world!) here on our blog.  It is a sampling of the beautiful celebrations of Life that are always taking place at our Center... the music is by the fabulous AllenDale (who are the lovely Karyn Allen and the dashing Rick Dale).

Enjoy!!



And join us as we create wonderful new memories in 2014 enjoying the unfolding of this beautiful experience we call Life!  Remember...
No matter where you are on your spiritual journey,  know that you are welcome here.

Namaste

Intention Without Action is Not Enough

ACTION!

Not action on the movie screen but action in our own lives... Action towards our own personal dreams!

Today's entry from the Joyous Living Journal is Action and it starts off by saying:

"Intention, without action, is not enough.  Decide, act, move in the world with confidence, knowing you are coming from and toward your intention.  Do not allow your fear, doubt, or uncertainty keep you from doing, acting, or moving in the direction of your dreams..."


After reading the entry for today, I was immediately reminded of a quote attributed to Goethe:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

- GOETHE                                     

(I will add that upon further research there appears to be question as to who the original author of this quote really is, in the end the words are powerful regardless of who originally wrote them.)

I believe the "genius, power and magic" in the boldness of action is really Spirit.  Coming from your intention is the main ingredient, when you come from the place of your dreams you have the excitement and power of the feeling you get from seeing the dream as reality and that vibration is what propels our actions forward.  It is amazing the "coincidences" that will come into play when we come from and toward our intention.  The whole Universe conspires to support us the moment we decide and take action in the direction of our dreams!

Think about what it is that typically prevents you from taking action on your intentions... Fear of failure?  Not having the all the right resources at hand?  Not sure of all the steps required to get "there"?  Whatever it is, let it come to mind, with out any judgement, and let it go.  Release the "could have, might have, should have" thoughts with unconditional love.  

It's all good, you are in the right place at the right time, exactly where you are.  And exactly where you are is the PERFECT place to start heading in the direction of where you want to be!  See yourself there, feel what it would feel like to be there, and coming from that place, decide what is the best first step you can take right now, from where you are at, with what you have.  Continue taking those steps... That is how the journey unfolds! 

Affirmation: I act easily and boldly in alignment with my intentions.  I let my intention lead me, acting and doing without stress or worry.


Namaste.

You Will Do Amazing Things

Good morning!  It's a brand new baby day!  A brand new opportunity to do amazing things!

Don't think you can?  I know we all have our ups and downs, and sometimes we need a little help remembering who we are and what we are capable of.  So this morning I am going to share with you an AMAZING person, singer and musician, who is here to remind you exactly who we are and what we can do.

I invite you to close your eyes as you listen to this song.  Really LISTEN to it.  Hear the lyrics, what they mean and what they are saying.  He is singing to YOU!  He is singing about YOU!

Take it in... let the words wash over you.  Allow your heart to open up a little more to the amazing possibilities of Life...

I hope you started singing along with him around 3:20,  I can't help myself.  It opens my heart, fills it with love and brings tears to my eyes.  I realize, despite the way things in this world may appear, it's all good.  We've got this.

Think of what we are doing collectively... God is all there is, in each and every one of us.  More and more people are waking up to the Love that God is.  With God, all things are possible.  God is in us, as us and through us... We will do amazing things!

This song is filled with spiritual principle and fabulous reminders.  Really listen to the lyrics... he is singing your Truth!  Let this be a theme song for your day.  :-)

If you enjoyed the video, know he is even more amazing live!!  We are blessed to have Michael Gott performing at the Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley in April - more details to come!!

In the mean time, you can visit his website: www.michaelgott.com or find more videos available on YouTube.

Now go forth this day, your heart filled with Love, and remember, you are capable of and will do amazing things!  Right here right now!  And so it is!

Whenever the Time is NOW

This year's retreat at the Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley was hosted by Dr James and Rev. Leslie Golden.  The retreat was titled "Whenever the time is Now" ... and, well, when you think about it, the time is always NOW.  Now is the only time it can ever actually really be.  People have written books about it.  The sages say to "be here now" but sometimes that seemingly simple idea can be difficult to experience.  Our mind has an uncanny way of keeping us in the past and the future, reflecting back, multi-tasking and planning ahead.

Spiritual practices are tools we learn and use to make it easier to experience the beauty of presence, being in the Now.  This retreat was an amazing opportunity to explore new practices, as well as remember and reinforce those we already knew, to deepen our personal spiritual understanding and awareness.

Spiritual practices can take some effort, a bit of discipline, and this weekend was about honing our skills in that area.  Dr. James and Rev Leslie used the analogy of these various spiritual practices as different types of forks, all of them used for the purpose of feeding our soul food that comes from the One Source, God.  It doesn't matter which fork you use, what matters is that you remember to feed your soul!

We learned about and were asked to practice more mindfulness during the retreat and over the entire weekend.  That means to slow down... move slower in all your actions.  Drive slower (at the speed limit perhaps), eat slower and chew your food more thoroughly.  Bring more conscious awareness into everything you do.   

All the participants took a vow of silence.  I had never attempted something like this before, leading up to the retreat I was excited and a little nervous about this part.  With an open mind and an open heart, I decided I was ready for some quiet time... to hear the voice of Spirit within me, the One who created me.  

I have to say, the mindfulness, coupled with the vow of silence, made my mind seem MUCH LOUDER at first!  I had to, as gently and non-judging as possible, quiet the mind chatter and listen for that still small voice within me.  The one that reminds me not only am I loved unconditionally, but that our essence is purely and simply Divine Love.

We also learned some Siddha Yoga practices, including singing a chant (yes! out loud!  with our voices!).  We listened to and sang together, in a call and response format, the phrase: "Om Namah Shivaya" which means "I bow to the God Self that dwells within me - as me."  Everyone received a strand of mala beads, which are sometimes referred to as Buddhist prayer beads.  They are essentially used for keeping count during mantra meditations and have an added benefit of helping to keep the mind focused.  My mala beads are a new favorite "fork" of mine, I use them every day.  :-)

This retreat was an amazing experience.  It has deepened my spiritual awareness and fortified my spiritual practices in such a complete way.  My heart is wide open, filled and over flowing with the Divine Love that God is.  

I encourage you, whatever your "fork" is, if your soul is hungry then feed it!  If you haven't found a fork you like, come visit us... No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, know that you are always welcome here.

Namaste. 

To learn more about the retreat visit...

James and Leslie Golden: www.DreamANewDream.net

Siddha Yoga: www.siddhayoga.org