Impermanence. Buddhists use this term to describe the constant state of change. Life is impermanent. Everything changes. Suffering, the Buddhist says, exists in part when we hold on to that which changes, wanting it to stay the same. Today in Phoenix is the perfect day to write about this. It is the second day in a row we’ve had non-stop rain. I have mud-caked tennis shoes in the car port looking like I just left a horse stall, not walked down my palm tree lined street. I’ve lived here for two and a half years and this is the first time I’ve experienced this. It is different, not the...
Friends, Can’t think of what to get your beloved this year for the holiday season? Grab your spiced cider, decide you will have an answer by reading this post and invest three minutes in finding your answer. Last week I celebrated a MAJOR birthday. Major in terms of number of years I’ve walked above the earth. At an intimate home gathering twelve friends created this masterpiece for me, before my eyes, at my party. Five others had contributed to the blank canvas prior to this evening. If you look closely you can see some phrases such as: Loud love Skipping through life Joy Love Speak light...
Hello friends, It is November 11 at 11:11 am. I have not studied numerology, but there is evidence today has some significance as I have received the following: two spiritual concert invitations a forgiveness event two gong ceremonies five meditation events – – local and virtual I Googled the significance of the number and this is what I learned: www.spiritvoyage.com claims today is “one of the most powerful shifts in human awareness that we will experience in our lifetime.” Today is the day to release karmic scripting and ancestral crap. www.tokenrock.com says eleven is a “master number” as it is a double digit number. It is the most intuitive...
The October 3rd post “Where has the Divine shown Itself to You Today?” was inspired by my phone conversation with author and mystic Sophy Burnham. The two of us engaged in an hour-long conversation about the spiritual journey and intuition. I wanted to know how intuition hooked up with emotions and how an I could cultivate a stronger intuitive knowing. “Intuition” Sophy says, “is really developed through empathy.” “Empathy, however, is developed through knowing your own emotional self so you can see the emotional expressions in others.” The right side of the brain, which hosts creativity, does not utilize language like the left side of the brain does. Information...
Friends, My heart is so full of joy right now. There are moments when I am proud to be an American. Where wearing the “country” label feels good upon my skin. Today, I experienced one of these moments. My morning started as it often does with a walk to my local Starbucks. Walking allows me to get grounded to the earth, move my body some and receiving a natural source of Vitamin D. This morning as I stood in line to purchase my venti green tea iced, no sweetener. I was met with a smile from my barista behind the register and a patriotic-looking display to the right front...
Surrender is the mac-daddy of spiritual practices. It requires us to Trust the Unknown and the Invisible (Love, Grace, Compassion, Right Action, Presence) so deeply we are willing to relinquish our mental prowess to enter into an experience which is beyond the mind. and then act from that place. The Bible would call this “listening to the still small voice.” For me, I learned to trust control (the antithesis of surrender) in order to maintain safety. Trusting The Invisible and leaning into it has been a long and gradual process. My writing partner and I get together regularly to review and comment on each other’s work. As a former reporter,...
“Nothing is sexier than watching active transformation” came sliding out of my mouth suspended 90 feet above the ground. I went zip lining with my friend Brandy last week. She was terrified. Okay, terrified is a generous understatement. She was silent in the car ride to the zip location. She robotically geared up with the assistance of our guide. Trembling she wanted to run. A few times she said ” no I can’t” and those around her would remind her she could. Her skin was a cross between ghost and paste and her energy was somewhere outside of her body. She had a good reason to be frightened. Several...
In the midst of writing a chapter today on “befriending loss” my phone rang. A dear friend/colleague of mine was on the other end. Between sobs of roaring tears she eeeeked out “I need help. Please pray for me.” Hearing traffic as background noise, I told her to pull over to the side of the road, get out of the car with her feet on the green grass and call me back. She did. I typically don’t get authoritative with those calling for help. I knew, however, she was not grounded and rattled. Standing on firm ground and breathing was a large part of what she needed. Her story...
Alooooooooha. I am in Kauai celebrating a significant milestone birthday. My desire for myself? To see, know, recognize, give, and receive love in all of its magnificent forms. It has become a practice for me. I can sit in any situation and say “I spy with my own little eye, love ….” The Course in Miracles says everything is love or a cry for love. If this is indeed true, then I ought to see/experience if I give it attention. Kauai is an Hawaiian island where I have visited: as a child to play with my family, as a young adult to heal from heartbreak, with my daughter to...
Photo of Sophy Burnham from her website sophyburnhamdotcom In the midst of writing a chapter on the benefits of being fluent in the language of emotions, I took a short break to contemplate. On this day, contemplation meant cleaning out my e-mail box. I discovered a message from Science of Mind Publications with their new online magazine complete with audio links. I entered. Curious with an interview on intuition, I placed my mouse over the link and began listening to Sophy Burnham, author and mystic speak on the topic. I was pulled in when she said emotions are the gateway to intuition, or something to that effect. I knew this...
“Trauma, I would define, is the inability to stay in the present.” Kim Lipsman Emotions are wonderful nuggets of energy which rise up in response to an idea, thought, perception, or reaction. If, however, you are traumatized, these nuggets may proceed thought and/or direct it. Even more likely, is the chance you are separated from thought. During my two years of solitude I worked with Kim, above, to restore my emotional self to a place of balance and trustworthiness. I relearned the nuances of emotion and came to fall in love, once again, with the miracle of self expression through emoting. I allowed myself to write poetry, paint and...
Two weeks ago I was sitting in a sea of laptop computers and men on a college campus. I was attending Word Camp. Word Camp is an all day training session to assist individuals in learning WordPress, the format I use for my blog. Sitting next to me was Rhonda, a woman about my age, unemployed, and wanting to work her way into the technical field. She asked me what I did for a living and I told her I was a minister. Her face shifted the way many people’s do when they are uncomfortable with the answer. “I am so sorry I said F**K,” she says sheepishly. I...
I had grand plans for commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11 which became obsolete after eating some food last night which resulted in extreme belly bloating. I experienced pain akin to childbirth. At one point, I managed to roll from the bed to the floor, crawl to the bathroom four feet away and roll around on the bathroom floor so I could feel the cold tile against my belly. Falling asleep at 6:15 am in a guest room, I awoke groggy to see the DVD player flashing 11:47 am. Between the time I went to bed and fell asleep at 6:15 a.m. I honored 9/11 in the perfect way....
Ring, ring, ring. “Hello this is Bonnie speaking.” “May I come to dinner? I really want some of your quinoa.” I started noticing a trend developing. Friends began wanting to come for dinner to share in my quick and easy, throw together in minutes quinoa dish. Several weekends ago I went camping with a group of girlfriends. When we were planning the menu the question came up, “can you make your quinoa dish for one of our meals?” Maybe the heart and stomach truly are connected. This recipe is ridiculously easy and you are encouraged to put your own twist on it. Bonnie’s May I Come To Dinner Quinoa...
I have been known to gobble, not savor books. This one was no exception. You see, Napoleon Hill’s work was influential with me in my 20s and 30s as I was learning my way around the work world and becoming awake to the power of my consciousness. His book Think and Grow Rich served me well for two decades. In it I learned the power of a Master Mind group, creating and implementing a plan and keeping good counsel with myself. I became who I am now partly due to the influence of this one small book. Hill’s book was written in 1938 just following Think and Grow Rich...
Guess what? I’ve gone back to school. I’ve prepared for it all week beginning with a conversation with my Starbuck’s barista. Brian welcomed me with my venti, Passion, no sweetener, iced tea informing me “school has started.” “I know,” I tell Brian, “I am taking a class, too.” “Really? Now why would you take a class?” He says with twenty year old curiosity. “To learn,” I respond as he begins laughing. He sees the world in semesters and degrees. I see the world in chunks of learning. I signed up for a three credit English class on magazine writing. I don’t care about the credit. After twelve weeks I...
I promised on my last posting to bring you an interview regarding affirmative prayer. This interview is with Angela C. Montano, a Licensed Prayer Practitioner, whose work it is to pray with individuals using this technology. She describes clearly the experience of entering into the spiritual field behind and within circumstances in order to call forth the spiritual reality not recognized until the moment of affirmative prayer. Enjoy!...
Affirmative Prayer is praying from an internal state of Oneness with The Great Love and praying from the State which is desired, instead praying about the something desired. It is embodying the end result energetically and then knowing it for yourself or another. The philosopher and spiritual teacher Ernest Holmes created an easy five step process for praying affirmatively. 1. Recognizing The Creator. Sitting quiet in a contemplative space of knowing there is One Energy from which all Life and forms flow. Connect with that Energy field with an open, grateful heart. The basking in this dimension is often enough. 2. Unifying with The Creator. Once the contemplation is...
I sit today with more questions than answers; rich in potential revelations open receptive slightly curious recalling. An Indian guru this week said with reverence “God is really feminine in energy as She creates, giving birth all of the time.” I wonder, why then, are women diminished hated, brutalized, used throughout the world I occupy. Is it a statement really toward God and potency, not women? I pick up a book by Alice Walker Anything We Love Can Be Saved, its title. I decide I will love all that is feminine, masculine, and alive. My world will change. My God will be Love. I change the tense to the...
Hi friends. The more I get in touch with and live from my Soul, the more natural desire I have to love and tend to my body. Eating healthy clean food is part of this care. Rosaland shared with me a recipe for Gluten free easy breakfast bars which I changed up quite a bit to match my own individual taste. Here it is. Takes five minutes to prepare. 3/4 cup spelt flour 1/2 cup brown rice flour 1/4 tsp baking soda a pinch of sea salt (I used 1/4 tsp and it was too salty) 1/4 cup coconut oil 1/4 cup agave nectar 5 drops Tangerine Young Living...
I envision a world where customer service looks like this: 1. When you buy a product or service it is delivered as promised and in the timeframe agreed upon. 2. If an error is made on the side of the company/service provider an apology is given followed by a remedy. Responsibility is taken. Communication remains open. The customer is not burdened with the work to make it right. 3. For high priced items or on-going service, I like periodic check-ins, looking like a relationship. “I see Ms. Barnard you purchased a solar system for your pool last year, how do you like it?” I think an $8,000 investment warrants...
The last two years have been full of taking Emerson breaks. Not coffee or tea breaks, well maybe those to, but taking time by myself to sit quietly and ingest Ralph Waldo Emerson. My favorite is of his essays is Self Reliance. Many years ago, maybe ten, I took a trip to Concord Massachusetts and toured Emerson’s home where I touched his black robe when no one was looking. I am not sure what I expected to happen, it wasn’t like Jesus touching the hem of the woman’s garment, but I touched it none-the-less and for a moment breathed deeply. In my imagination I was indulging in an energy...
