We Are, One Race

Don Kindred, the publisher of the San Clemente Journal writes in the current Journal: 

"We occupy these spaces for only a fraction of time. But our lives are important, not just as individuals, or families, communities, or states and countries...but as humans.

We are, one race." 

The title of his message is "Life, Matters."

I thought it was an appropriate and timely message. I was very grateful that our Center had been featured in the current San Clemente Journal.

Senior editor, Ann Batty, wrote a lovely article about our Center in that same magazine.
She was interested in us because she heard we were 'healers.' And indeed we are healers. The basis of all our healing is the idea of oneness: "There is only one Life. That Life is perfect. That Life is God's Life. That Life is my life now." When we see life as an opportunity to be curious about each other, we create bridges of understanding and peace.

As many of you know, I was recently with family in Canada for my mother's funeral. After the funeral, family gathered to break bread together and to connect. I was so heartened by a conversation I overheard between my two nephews -- one a high school social studies teacher and the other a salesman. Usually the salesman is known to be a joker. The salesman was asking how the teacher handled difficult subjects in his classroom -- of race, or privilege or violence, etc. The teacher was very passionate about free speech and how important it was to have conversations with each other about our differences without resorting to violence. He also said that he knew that the teens who were talking were usually regurgitating what they had heard at home, not necessarily their own original thinking. When he finished speaking, he apologized for monopolizing the conversation. His cousin, assured him that he (and all of us) benefited from the teacher's experience and was grateful that the teens had someone like him to listen to them and perhaps moderate the debates between students with differing views.

I was proud of the maturity and wisdom in these two young men. I have lived at great distances from both of them, and doubt that any of my philosophy or values have rubbed off on them, yet when it comes down to it, human beings are all in this together. And life matters.

The conversation would not have happened if someone, hadn't been curious enough to ask questions.  We are all in this together.

Black Friday or National Listening Day

One of our members called me on Thanksgiving to let me know that Black Friday is designated as National Listening Day. I don't know if there is an obvious connection but clearly the connection with inner Wisdom is unmistakable! We are being called to live an awakened life right now. Today!  Not in the future but today. What that means is that we trust that we live in abundant universe where no one and nothing can get what belongs to me in consciousness. Furthermore it means to listen to that inner Wisdom and spend what is in your budget and not a penny more.

In my past life, I wanted to please those I loved so much that I would often spend more than what I could afford to please them. I no longer do that. I know that the gifts that I give from the heart, no matter what their cost or form, are more than sufficient. It is difficult for anyone to set a budget with boundaries yet may be the very best thing to do.

I once knew a woman who was very good with her money although she did not earn a top salary. On payday she would cash her check, pay her rent and then put the rest of her money in baggies for the various other things she might buy in a month such as entertainment, gas, groceries and savings. She grew her savings intentionally.

I know another wise couple who have been practicing the 80-10-10 rule for years. They live on 80% of their income; they tithe 10% and they save 10%. I admire them so much for having this discipline.

Lately I have been listening to my inner wisdom regarding finances and looking after myself with love. For many years I thought that meant to buy whatever my whims guided me to. Now I see it differently. I see that self love is also about looking after your future self, too.

I did not participate in Black Friday shopping this year. I think the economy is fine without my dollars. I will be doing a lot of my Christmas shopping at the Holiday Boutique on Sunday afternoon. Living in the present moment includes bringing all your wisdom with you in every moment.

How do you look after yourself? 

Listen to the Answer

most people like to talk

Today I had inspiration from one of my favorite people, my hair stylist. She is a talented stylist but what makes her very special is that she is a great listener. She skillfully asks open-ended questions and then truly listens to the answer. (She proves the listening because she asks follow-up questions at the time and even months later.) Today I asked her how she became such a great listener and she said that her clients have interesting lives, and that most people like to talk.

Since I will be speaking about this subject on Sunday, I thought about my relationship with God. I thought that God, as my Divine Guide probably likes to talk too. In fact, I think that Divine Mind is broadcasting 24 hours a day seven days a week. Sometimes I don't get still enough to listen to the answer.

Have you ever asked a question and then not listened to the answer? The truth is most of us have done that at one time or another. I am curious about the reasons one would not listen.

Perhaps we are afraid of the answer. Maybe it will be too hard. Maybe it requires us to do something we are not emotionally, mentally or financially ready to do.

Maybe we have listened to the answer but didn't understand it. Real listening requires comprehension, understanding, awareness. If I asked a question of a

Have you ever asked a question and proceeded to answer it? Sometimes the question is only rhetorical.

I wonder if the same thing happens in meditation. Maybe we have prayed for guidance and then we begin a meditation. The answer is constantly being broadcast but sometimes we make our requests to Divine Mind, simply rhetorical. We don't really expect an answer. Sometimes we get busy and try to fix the thing. Sometimes we simply know what the Divine Mind will say so we either move in that direction or we try something else.

So the answer is to really LISTEN to the answer! And to get clarity if you don't understand fully.

One of my favorite scriptures is1 Corinthians 13:12, King James Version (KJV)

" For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

What this means to me is that now we see our lives in a distorted way, like looking in a defective mirror, but when we are enlightened we shall see face-to-face. One couldn't have greater clarity than a person-to-person conversation.

It may also be true that we listen with poor reception, but then we will hear exactly what the Universe is saying. Now is the time to really listen to what the Universe is saying. It is leading you home to yourself with love and wisdom. Take your times. get your inner Mr. Fix-it to take a hike. Come with a beginners mind, a fresh mind. Ask for specific answers that cannot be mistaken for something else. Then get still! And listen, really listen for the answer.

Jack Kornfield The Quality of Listening

In Africa. There is a story that illustrates the quality of listening that can come through meditation. In a particular east african tribe or village. When a child is born they don't count the birthday of that child from the day the child comes from its mothers body or even the day it is conceived as in certain other cultures, but rather from when that child was first a thought in its mothers mind, that is the real birthday. And as soon as the mother realizes that she would like to have a child with this particular partner, She will go off and sit out in a field under a tree, and listen, and wait until she can hear the song of the child that wants to be born in her heart that will come from the wedding or the coming together with this particular man. And when she hears this song, she sings it to herself, and then returns back to the village and teaches it to her partner so that when they make love together, joined together in love, They sing this song and invite this child to be born. And later as She is pregnant. She sings the song to the child in the womb and teachers it to midwives so that when the child is born. The first song or sound that it hears is those gathered around singing its own unique song. And as the child grows. The people of the village learn the song of this person so that when he falls or she falls and hurts herself. someone picts her up and sings her song to her, or in the rites of passage or rituals of the village the song is sung, the wedding ceremony where both songs are sung until finally even at the end of life, the song of this child now as an old man or women. is sung for the last time, and say their last words...

When I first heard the story in it touched in me a longing to live in a place where we heard one another's songs, where we were so in tune with ourselves and with one another that we could greet each other in that way, to meditate allows us to hear the song within ourself and to be respectful and hear the song of those around us. - Jack Kornfield

Happy Birthday Kate!