I have had a long term battle with my belly. It is subtle at times, and very blatant at others. I swear it has a life of its own and I have secretly resented it; although until last night, I was not aware of this brewing distain. On Monday I will fit into an outfit, than Tuesday I am too swollen to wear it. I will go to sleep on Wednesday feeling fine to wake up on Thursday with a distended stomach and no understanding as to how it happened. My long battle with the belly became more intense after undergoing a hysterectomy leaving with it scattered scars...
I woke up this morning to my walls wiggling, bed shaking, and trinkets dancing along the bookshelf. There was a 4.7 earthquake with its epicenter just a few miles from where I am living. Nothing like an earthquake to wake me up and get me active in a life inventory. As Mediation Monday, I knew today I would meditate throughout the day on WHO I am, WHAT I am doing, and WHY I am doing it. This is an active part of intentional living; knowing the WHY, or purpose behind what I do. Today’s meditation is to be awake to what is, why I’m engaged in what is,...
Welcome to a NEW Meditation Monday Meditation. Welcome to the NEW moment in your life. New, improved, fresh, current. New, New, New, New. I love the word new even though it is overused in our culture and typically associated with wanting to sell something. New means something hasn’t been before. As spiritual beings we are constantly living in the energy of NEW as each moment, each now is literally new. It has never existed before and never will again. Our Infinite Self meets the finite self through time and space in form. The form, moment, insight, relationship with life is new at this very moment. Our bodies...
This past Sunday I spoke on the Metaphysical meaning of Lent. Leading up to my talk I decided to dive head long into transformation and transformations that we choose to initiate; versus ones that feel as though they are hoisted upon us. This inquiry led me into creating a workbook to be used throughout the Lent season beginning with Ash Wednesday, tomorrow. I would like to gift this workbook to you. It requires choosing something you would like to change about yourself in the next forty six days (forty days plus six Sundays). I suggest you do this with someone else for High Watch support (always adds...
It’s Monday again!! This week’s selected meditation practice is (drum roll …) A self forgiveness meditation with Jack Kornfield. Jack Kornfield is a Buddhist Monk who has been a long time teacher of mine through his writings. I have read all of his books and my favorite ALL TIME spiritual book is A Path with Heart. Early in my ministry I facilitated Heart groups where we practiced Kornfield’s work as a group. Forgiveness tends to be a necessary cleansing practice on all spiritual paths. This facilitated meditation invites us to loosen where we are bound up. The spaciousness in me toasts the spaciousness in...
I have a long love affair with entrepreneurs. As visionaries, they carry within them the commitment to bring their unique idea from concept into form. Conscious entrepreneurs are visionaries with ideas, however, they see themselves as shapers of a culture, not solely profiteers. They use their skills and talents for the benefit of humanity. I have a been a lifetime connoisseur of learning from these bold men and women and implementing much of what I’ve learned into my own life. Zappos founder and CEO, Tony Hsieh, is a master of creating community. He sees works as not something you go to as a separate part of life;...
My daughter’s family is growing. She has an active, powerhouse of a 20 month old toddler whose favorite words are “no” and “da-da.” She lives with her fiancé’ and 20 month old daughter in a two bedroom condo. The living room looks like a bomb of toys and stuff animals exploded on the blue carpet. The Little One is learning to pick up after herself, but it is slow going. This is my daily job description: picking up, washing, making, cleaning up, playing, walking and tending. The picking up and washing are pretty much the same: clothes and dishes. The making consists of three meals plus snacks,...
My big confession up front. I’m not much of a football fan. Another confession, I am a HUGE Seattle fan and my love of Seattle has overridden my neutrality for The Sport. I have found myself counting down the days until the big game on Sunday. I’m talking about it with strangers. I have a reservation made at a sports bar with my daughter and some friends for the big event. I have my Seahawks temporary tattoos ready for application; I am invested. So, today while in meditation, I pondered about this new compulsion to watch Sunday’s game. I decided to compare the little I know about football...
January and February are precious months for me. Why? Because I love as a people we come together over much that is good. First, the New Year. Most of us invest thoughtful reflective time upon who we’ve been and who we plan on becoming. We stop, celebrate with people we love and step into a new beginning. Then in February we celebrate Valentine’s Day, stopping to remind people they have admirers and are loved. Nestled between the two is Martin Luther King’s birthday. My Facebook page greets me with quote after quote of speeches King gave. I ponder the power of one life, leadership, and standing on the right...
Get this. It is mid-January and 80 degrees this morning at 9 am in Los Angeles. To a Seattle girl and a Phoenix woman, this time of year and that time of the morning is supose to be chilly. Not so. Not here. Despite the warmth, I still refuse to wear shorts and continue to wear a sweater on my morning walks. This morning I listened to an interview between Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith and Julia Cameron. It would be the sixth or seventh time I’ve heard it. Each time I listen, I focus in to Julia Cameron’s recitation of her favorite Ernest Holmes’ prayer. Today and...
Check out to what filmmaker David Lynch has to say about the benefits of meditation and what is in the Field of Pure Consciousness (I would call God). Some quotes from Lynch … “If you have a golf ball size consciousness, you will have a golf ball size understanding.” “Enlightenment is the full potential of all of us human beings.” “A side effect of this Consciousness is that negativity starts to recede.” “It’s money in the bank to get that beautiful consciousness growing … intuition grows … it is a field of Pure Knowingness … it’s like an ocean of solutions.” “The enjoyment of life grows, HUGE!”...
I am a professional prayer. Yep, the primary way I make my living is praying for others. So it wasn’t too unusual when my hair stylist asked me to not tip her and instead pray for her husband throughout the holiday season. I did stop for a moment and wonder if she would have made the request to a lawyer to write a brief as her tip or request of a mechanic to change her oil; but prayer is often seen by people as something anyone can do (which they can) and so the request wasn’t too strange. I paused for a moment, knowing I would be...
The countdown has begun. Less than three hours to the New Year on the West Coast. What will you be “releasing” and what will you “accept” for this new, shiny, brilliant year that has your name written all over it? I’m at my friend Rhonda’s house creating slips of paper with concepts of release and acceptance on them. We just lit the fire pit out back under the stars and in the chilling still evening. Burning will begin in the next hour. If you have something you would us to add your releases and acceptance to the pit on your behalf, we will. Jot them below and...
This past week I participated in a workshop where our class was given the assignment to create and execute a community service project in one hour. The project was to stretch us and to be beneficial to the world. We chose to create a Peace Poem uploading a peace sentence provided by friends and strangers. Each act of service, as we know, has the potential to transform the world. It is my hope this video brings you some joy. Happy...
Yesterday I attended a friend’s birthday party and a financial teacher who loves poker said that most poker players like to focus on what they are really good at and ignore their weak spot. When asked, one player said she wasn’t willing to invest the time and what it took in being really bad before becoming good. For some of us, it isn’t about the time, but instead about the discomfort in experiencing incompetence, vulnerability, and the feelings that come with an intense learning curve. One’s poker didn’t improve much, she said, from focusing on one’s strength; yet, took quantum leaps from growing just a small increment...
Today is my birthday!! Yes, I am a fun-loving, adventurous, travel-addicted Sag. So, what did I buy myself this year for my birthday present? A book of 286 letter, notes, and doodles by John Lennon. I love handwritten letters. I always have and appreciate them more now that most correspondence is done by text or email. There is a power in the written word and the words that come through the arm and written out of the hand to me gives forth an intimate, thoughtful energy. Thumbing through my birthday present today, I chose a postcard from John, Sean, and Yoko they sent to their friends for...
What a week! Mark Earlix, healer, came to Los Angeles to facilitate private healing sessions, Spiritual Group Healing, and teach a workshop. Crazy good stuff happened. Moved by his connection with The Light, I had to share his wisdom with you. ‘Tis the Season …...
Yesterday I had the privilege of being at Founder’s Church. THE Founder’s Church where Dr. Ernest Holmes, founder of Science of Mind, blessed the church at its dedication, ministered in it for four short months and then was the focus of the first memorial service. Dr. Holmes’ writings have been influential to my spiritual growth and unfoldment. Here is a taste of his early writing from Creative Mind and Success (1919): From selfish motives alone, if from no loftier reason, we cannot afford to find fault or to hate or even to hold in mind anything against any living soul. The God who is out of love cannot...
Big apologies to all of you who received fifteen or so articles in your in-box yesterday. I was working on my new website and the articles sent to you were to upload to my web page, not be sent out to you. However, they were, which got me thinking. I have always believed that even mistakes, maybe especially mistakes, are filled with a Divine Mojo of miracles. Yesterday after the BIG BLAST, I received a phone call from my spiritual practitioner inquiring in part about the abundance of articles. After laughing, and some colorful words from me, we both knew there was magic in the mistake. Someone...
One of my favorite teachers, Emma Curtis Hopkins, speaks of the Presence of God as the Go(o)d we are seeking. The God or Good is all there is, seeking me as I am seeking It. Her teachings recommend denying anything unlike the Go(o)d of God as being Real in anyway. This is True; High Truth. However, since All is God, then there is no opposite. All is God. I am called to deeply love that within me that doesn’t feel good, comfortable, joyful, and yet is equally a condition for the unfolding of my Soul. Last week I experienced three solid days of pure, non-stop terror. I’d...
After my morning meditation, I turned on my computer to go through my emails. I found a blog I subscribe to where the writer felt much relief by admitting her relationship with her husband wasn’t going that well. She said the more friends she told, the more relief she felt and the more relief her friends experienced by admitting that marriage isn’t always perfect. I was struck by my perception that our culture does everything and anything, overall, to make certain emotions of ours unacceptable and wrong. Spiritual teachings tend to also do this. Many spiritual teachers suggest reaching for a higher emotion, as though the one we’re in...
Today I am willing to let go of thinking I know everything. I see the Roller Derby of my mind, all of my opinions elbowing each other and jockeying for position. I see the ‘inner committee’ and laugh at its pushiness. I surrender to the space beyond the committee of opinions; the space that knows nothing and trusts everything. I make room for new discoveries — in the world, in myself and in others. Life is much better when I’m not a big smarty-pants. And so it is! Affirmation by Rev. Bonnie Rose, Ventura Center for Spiritual Living, November 6, 2013 One month ago today I woke up...
