Coming Home to Yourself

Today I noticed that I was really happy. I was not happy for a reason. I was simply grateful to be who I am, where I am and doing what I do. I found myself singing under my breath... in the back of my mind. It wasn't a profound song, but it was a joyful one. "Zippity-do-dah"  I always like to sing happy songs when I am happy. Being happy and singing are natural, normal expressions of joy! It occurred to me that I had finally come home to myself.

That may sound weird to you because it even sounded weird to me. But  when Spirit whispers Truth to you, you know it. I knew it. I was experiencing a Divine moment.

Nothing has happened or come about to cause me to feel so joyful. It was simply a natural experience of life. It is what life is supposed to feel like. It is what I have felt for the majority of  time since my spiritual awakening, forty years ago.

To tell the truth, I did not know I had not been feeling like my true self until I felt the authentic moment of being Heather Dawn Clark. I felt grateful, blessed and happy.

So now I look back and start gathering up all the clues along my path that I had been "out of my mind." I see that I have been judgmental, distrustful and fearful, mostly about myself. I realize also that I have been creating drama and playing the victim.

I apologize. It was unconscious of me.

For any of you who have been praying for me to awaken to the powerful truth within me -- thank you.

I want to live with a smile on my face and one in my heart. I have so much to be grateful for!

I want to live in gratitude and generosity... to see the world through God's eyes.

I want to stay connected to Source, remembering that it is only in my faulty thinking when I feel separated form It. I am bigger than that. You are bigger than that, too.

It also helps me to be physically active. It helps me to connect with people, ones I know and ones I don't know. For instance, today I went to the grocery store to pick up eggs. I parked and started to get out of my car. A woman was coming to get in to her car which was parked to my right. She glanced at me and I asked her if I had parked too close to her car, if she had enough room to get in. She declared that she had lots of room, that I had parked perfectly! It felt good to have a moment of connection. Earlier in the day, I had arrived at my step aerobics class to find that my step had already been set up in the spot I prefer. My friend who had done it, had then disappeared to work on some strength training. In my right place in my aerobics class, in my right place in the parking lot, and in my right place in life, God is great all the time!.

My question to you is are you at home in yourself?

You are Unique Now

"Since no two persons are alike there must be a unique place for you in the scheme of things. The Divine Pattern would be imperfect without you. Dare to be yourself. Stand in wonder before the majesty and might, the beauty and power of that Divine Presence which seeks expression through your individual life. Accept all the good there is. Whatever things you desire, believe you have them. Say:

I surrender all fear, all doubt.

I let go of uncertainty.

I know there is no confusion, no lack of confidence.

I know that what is mine will claim me, know me, rush to me.

          I accept the gift of Life for myself and for everyone else." 

Ernest Holmes, This Thing called You

I always liked the idea that no two snowflakes are identical. As a child growing up with a great deal of prairie snow, that idea captured my imagination. If that is true of a snowflake, think about the amazing being that you are. In the entire universe there never has been nor never will be, another identical to you.

We know that fingerprints are used to identify people. No two fingerprints are identical either. Our fingerprint can identify us, but what does it say about us. When I was attending a Ministers' Retreat a couple of years ago, there was a huge piece of art on a mirror of a fingerprint. The catch was instead of lines there were word descriptors forming the lines. The piece had words like:

fair

caring

human

dynamic

driven

daring

As great as your uniqueness is, greater by far, are the infinite possibilities that lay within you. You are the creator of your experience. You choose how to perceive situations. (You also choose which situations, people, and ideas to be part of your life. There are infinite choices. You get to choose what words describe you.

Are you willing to be who you came here to be?
Now is the time. The entire Universe is waiting for you to come home to yourself.

A Place Called Home

I have lived in many places from the tiny rural villages I was raised in, to cosmopolitan cities. Each one has a special place in  my heart.

When I knew I was being called to southern California, I was living in Calgary, Alberta. Calgary is a great city, close to the mountains. I has a view of the mountains (on a clear day) from the window of a junior high school classroom. I first came to California in May of 1993. The weather in San Diego was welcoming and warm. Everywhere there were palm trees. (Some of you know that I saw palm trees in my long term vision back in 1985.)
But the most surprising tree was the jacaranda trees. I had never seen a tree bloom in color before.

Last May I took some pictures of jacaranda trees.

Laguna Niguel Jacaranda

There are so many exquisite plants and trees here. I trust that we all remember to be open to their beauty. 

The trees are phenomenal but it is really the people I remember.

The cute surfer in Hawaii, sitting under a tall palm tree on the beach in Waikiki,who I returned to see many times. 

The wonderful men and women in my first center in beautiful Bonita, who helped me establish myself as a teacher and speaker.

The wonderful men and women here in San Clemente who continuously call me to my greatness, who share their hopes and dreams with me, and who remind me to rise to my higher self.

What surrounds you? What vegetation reminds you that you are home?

Where is Home?

Where do you call home?

I was born in  a tiny prairie village. I was raised in another tiny village. For my early years this was my home. I spent my young adult life on the prairies. Recently I returned to Saskatchewan to visit my mother. Especially in the summer, there is a great beauty and feeling of vastness there. I had forgotten how far one can see in the open prairies, the beautiful ever-changing skies and the constantly blowing wind.  I no longer call it home or even have a twinge of nostalgia about it. I love living in southern California. However, I also saw reflected old-fashioned values of kindness, compassion, courage and consideration.

There have been many places that have been home to my mother. Of course, the one I most strongly resonate with is a house that my dad designed and built (with lots of help) in the village of Conquest, Saskatchewan. From there, Mom and Dad moved to Saskatoon to a bungalow which had lots of memories for me. It was there that  I hosted my first large family dinner. I was 22 years old and with not much sense, invited my in-laws for Christmas. My parents, who were vacationing in California, loaned me their home. I cooked for 26 people that Christmas day...two meals dinner and supper.  The first turkey dinner was scheduled for noon. I think I finally served it at 1:30 PM. (I really missed my mother who would have been able to coach me through that ordeal.) Many years later my parents moved to a modest apartment and bought  a travel trailer in Mesa; they spent many years as snow-birds.  their home in Arizona was filled with friends, playing cards and talking about their most recent shuffleboard. games. Their home in Canada was a place the family gathered.  Even after my dad made his transition in 1993, Mom still lived six months in each place. It worked well for her while her friends were still in the trailer park and worked well for me because I could see her more often. Then Mom moved into a senior living apartment. Now she is living in a personal care home.

My mother's room overlooks a beautiful flower and vegetable garden in which she likes to walk and sit. Because people were raiding the garden, the home but a lock on the gates. They gave the code to the residents but my mother's eyesight is rapidly deteriorating so she was concerned that she couldn't see the numbers and letters on the lock. I suggested that she could memorize the placement of the numbers and letters. She did. Almost immediately she had it mastered.  Although one of her faculties is dimming, she used her memory to compensate. She felt great. I am reminded how important freedom and autonomy are to all of us.

In her new home, Mom is surrounded by 29 other seniors and provided for by care givers. She has three meals a day with her new friends. Sometimes they gather for conversation, sometimes they just sit quietly with one another. One morning when I returned to visit Mom she was excited to tell me that the previous night, her care giver, Anna, had danced for them. I didn't know what to imagine. Mom explained that Anna had just recently returned to work after knee and hip surgery. She brought some music with her and danced with joy, first by herself and then with  another resident. She simply was filled with joy of being alive. By dancing by herself, she gave permission to all the residents to fully be themselves. It was a beautiful gift she gave.

Mom was very sad to see me leave because I don't know when I will be able to return. Still she sees me on Skype almost daily. I am glad I got to see her new home, and meet her new friends.  I am very happy to be home, here in southern California where the palm trees remind me I am living my dream now!

Saskatoon in winter