Practice | Bonnie Barnard - Part 15

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Permanently Changing

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 same. And, today I like it. It reminds me of Seattle without the promise it will remain this way for four, five, or six months. It will change. It really doesn’t matter if I like it, anyhow, because it is what it is … raining. Elements of life are this way. We do have influence over much of life, some...

11/11/11/11

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 of all numbers representing illumination. It is the number of the dreamer. www.huffingtonpost.com claims today is a big day for weddings. Many nuptials are taking place right now at 11:11 am. This is what I know for sure — today is a day I am alive. I will invest part of my day in pure, unadulterated silence, grateful for this...

Sophy Burnham on Connecting with Our Intuitive Selves

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 comes through the right side through feelings and pictures. Our left brain isn’t developed until we are five years old when reason and rationalization become developed. In our culture, we tend to, then, value the left side of the brain and close down the access to our right side. Both sides are necessary, and equally valuable. When an individual is...

Surrendering with Singer Songwriter Larisa Stow

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, she is always telling me to add more sources to my writing, to include more voices into my work. I have taken her suggestion and in addition to source references throughout my book-in-process, I have taken to interviewing individuals who embody the theme for which I’m writing. Larisa Stow embodies surrender. She actually embodies Love. Yet the Love emanating through...

Praying for Another

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 spilled forth. She was financially afraid. She had undertaken a large endeavor with a huge financial payoff down the way. Until then, she was afraid she’d run out of resources. We prayed together on the phone and I reminded her she is made in the image of the Most High God and within her and around her is everything she...

Waimea Wisdom

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 bond and learn, to write my first book captive on a balcony overlooking the roaring Pacific, to explore deepening relationships with others, and now to celebrate who I’ve been and who I’m becoming in the next phase of unfolding. Yesterday I stood atop Waimea Canyon, the mini-Grand Canyon, reading this passage from mystic-teacher Joel Goldsmith: “Flow, God; flow! Flow into...