Spirit | Bonnie Barnard - Part 6

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I Choose to be Maladjusted

Over the years I have loved Martin Luther King, Jr for his commitment to living heaven on earth and I’ve disliked him for his alleged philandering. When I learned it was a mother who said to him in the grocery story “I hope someday our children can play together and not be judged by the color of their skin but instead by their character,” I was angry he didn’t credit her for these heart felt words. Since becoming a minister I realize talks are inspired in large part by our experience with others, so I softened a bit. After I had the experience of being cheated on, I couldn’t imagine a man who touted “morality” harming his wife this way. I still don’t understand this one, and I’ve learned it isn’t my business to. There are periods over the past four decades I have also been deeply inspired by his words and work. Core changing inspiration which has led me to see the Gospels in a social light. I...

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...

Starbucks: Creating Jobs, Seeding Lives

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 of it. The display read “This country needs jobs” with an invitation for the consumer, me, to get involved with a solution. For a $5 donation, six other investment groups (foundations, banks, corporations, faith-based organizations, government, socially responsible investors) match my gift to parlay it into a $35 donation. This donation is then loaned to create community businesses in America...

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...

Transformation is Sexy

“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 months prior she had been in a plane circling over LAX when the plane caught on fire, smoke filling the cabin. She associated the experience of height with potential death and she wanted to move beyond and through this fear. It was, however, active within her and running her body. We were given safety instructions and then we ascended via...

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...