Insight | Bonnie Barnard - Part 5

Home » Insight

Resurrecting Today and Every Day

Next door to my condo complex is a Catholic church whose bells chime every hour on the hour. I have the opportunity to stop whatever I am doing throughout the day and breathe, pray, or give thanks. Today is Easter. I am aware the congregation is celebrating the highlight of the Christian/Catholic year. Today is the day that Jesus the Christ has risen from the dead. Literally, this is a fantastic story. A dead man returning to walk amongst the living. Metaphysically this is a powerful teaching. In the metaphysical story, we are all personalities or people in the Bible. We are Mary who gives birth to Jesus. We are Joseph, the father, who says yes to a vision in deep faith. We are Jesus, born man, who through devotion to that which is Invisible becomes born into Christ (the anointed one). We are the disciples who are in and on the spiritual marketing team. We are Judas who betrays our own inner divinity, and we are those who throw...

Is This REALLY Urgent?

“We have to talk NOW.” “Can you call me this afternoon, this can’t wait?” “We need a decision right away.” “You’ll miss this window of opportunity if you don’t act now.” “I can’t go any further without your input.” I lay in bed with pneumonia as the phone rings and each caller at the end of the phone has what they consider to be an urgent situation that then is to become my urgency. As my energetic capacity is slight, my ability to assess the true emergent is keen. Not one of the panicked “must do, must have or must act now” was REALLY urgent. I watched the callers acting from this crescendoed peak energy of the now or never. Finding this curious, I have been observing and inquiring into this energy pattern for several months. This is what I’ve come to know: We are trained into this idea of a short window in most part by artificial deadlines imposed by corporate marketing strategies. The idea of urgent is...

Let’s Talk Vision …

The Invisible Realm is so rich and as a culture we tend to value that which is tangible and seen over that which is not visible to the eye. Last week I spoke about the Invisible Realm for thirty minutes at Unity of Chandler’s Sunday service and I could have gone on for five to six more hours and still barely scraped the surface of the potency within the Invisible. Take just a moment to think about all of the activity that is in the ethers right now that goes unseen. Electricity, wi-fi-, radio waves, wind, temperature, internal feelings, emotions, states of being and ideas/thoughts. While preparing for the talk I kept hearing the phrase “show me the money” from the Jerry Maguire movie. I wondered what the movie and phrase had to do with the invisible realm; so I watched the movie, again. Jerry was a tough, big firm, sports agent — caring about money and not the people. It was “about the deal.” Until — he visited...

Looking at Self Esteem from a Different Angle

Sunday’s sermon I gave was less a talk about the idea of God and more an experience of connecting directly with The Presence. The congregation’s response was lively and hugs were generously flowing as I left the building. In the direct heat of a 100 degree plus morning I was met by an older, stunningly beautiful woman standing next to my car in tears. “I have prayed for thirty years”, she said, “to meet you.” She continued saying she had actively prayed for three decades to see the vitality of God in someone’s eyes and today was the day and my eyes were the eyes. Flattered and humbled simultaneously, I listened to her story. Partway through it she said, “like everyone else, I have problems with self esteem.” I have taken to seeing the world and listening to people talk much like reading a good college textbook. I begin to see and hear some things as though nuggets of wisdom and insight are flying off the page requiring a...

Wanting and Mattering: A Story of Prayer

As a child there were things that I REALLY wanted. I really, REALLY wanting a moped one year for Christmas as a young teen. I REALLY wanted this moped so I could experience the freedom of faster movement with lesser effort. I wanted to go to the movies without taking a bus, or go to friend’s homes quickly instead of walking a mile or two. I had a vision as to the WHY of this engine-driven monster. I wanted it bad. I was attached. The Buddhist would say I craved it. My birthday is in November and Christmas is December, so I started my campaign that year in August. I began by dropping hints. Then, I cut out photos and left brochures around the house. I talked about it at the dinner. I REALLY wanted a moped. My birthday came and the first thing I asked my parents was “did I get the moped today?” I don’t remember what I got, but it wasn’t the moped. I told my parents I understood...

Experiencing Writer Incontinence

Yesterday morning started with shopping at the downtown Phoenix Farmer’s Market. Individual tables with tented fabric overhead are set around a funky coffee shop that serves farm fresh breakfast and sells few grocery items that are regionally unique. I begin at the Pichuberry booth, my favorite fruit, now for a few years. The table has a clear clam shell container with samples, so I peel back a thin skin, hold the bottom bud and pop the bright yellow-orange firm fruit into my mouth. My Saturday morning ritual has begun. The next table is by Grindz, a local Scottsdale company that specializes in raw chocolate. I buy their raw zesty lemon bars for my upcoming week’s breakfast. Onto produce tents where I nosh a few samples — this week’s special is melon — honeydew, watermelon, and something yellow I don’t recognize but love, then I pick up my grass fed eggs. I walk by the street musician who is playing an electric guitar singing original songs. I can’t help myself, I...