Category Archives: Consciousness

With Spirit

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“…Everything is possible for him who believes.” – Mark 9:23-24

The person who has a certain great truth in his mind can never be defeated by anything and will ultimately win victories, though he may have to go through deep waters now and then. That great truth is the belief – the obsessive belief – that God is always with us. When you believe this, you are not alone, never, under any circumstances. When you live with this belief, you are never rejected, you are never forsaken, you never walk by yourself. God is with you – this is the greatest source of strength a human being can have.

Positive Living Day by Day, P. 344
Norman Vincent Peale

In my pre-God days, I used to feel so alone. Since coming to believe, I have taken much comfort in knowing that God is with me always. It truly is a strength that when human beings may not be available or I feel disappointed with them, that I can always count on Spirit to be with me, to love me, to provide wisdom and guidance. Likewise, when I am exuding happiness, bursting with excitement, I can consciously be with God and feel even more positive. No matter the circumstance, God is with me, in me, running through me. God is my Source.

It can still be easy to get lost in this physical world and forget who I truly am and what power I have been imbued with. When I remember that I am first and foremost a spiritual being (having a human experience) and, my Source, I cannot feel alone – I feel inspired!

My Gratitude List

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I’m grateful for:

  • Skype (online instant messaging and calling program)
  • eBay (online marketplace where I can purchase goods)
  • PayPal (I can invoice clients online)
  • Constant Contact (a fun online program I use to create electronic newsletters)
  • Google (what would any of us do without it?!)

Real spiritual, huh?

Well, you see I’m a computer geek AND a people person – unusual combo, I know. So the aforementioned is the geek coming out in me.

On the other side of the coin, I’m grateful for:

  • Conscious contact with Spirit and our ever-deepening connection
  • Being together with my beloved twin flame, life partner, and husband, Rog, in this lifetime
  • Knowing what’s truly important in life
  • Dear friends
  • Moving forward in my spiritual coaching professional practice
  • Good physical health
  • Phoenix weather
  • Laughter
  • Singing
  • Being a good listener (some times better than other times)
  • Being a trustworthy friend
  • The ability to hold a sacred place for others and help empower them as they walk their path.

The list really could go on and on. It’s always up to me as to how I view this world, my life. I can come from a victim standpoint, or I can seize the moment and look at my entire life as a blessing that has me exuding gratitude every moment. It’s always a choice. Having choices is another thing that I’m grateful for.

I am reminded of the following lyrics from A Course in Miracles, put to music by Jeff Olmstead:

Love is the way I walk in gratitude. Love… is the way I walk.

Hmm… Love and gratitude. Now, that’s not an unusual combination at all!

About Gratitude

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When I was a devout atheist, I felt there was no one to be thankful to. That changed as soon as I came to believe in a power greater than myself. I’m grateful for that, for walking into the rooms of a 12 Step program, which led me to the most important thing in my life: God, as I understand God.

This week is one that I particularly pause to give thought to gratitude.

So it was no surprise (at least not to me, the facilitator 🙂 ) that at last night’s meeting of the Gilbert Spirituality Meetup group, the topic was Gratitude. The shared stories were “inspirational” as one member put it. Yes, indeed.

When a father can get down on his knees after his son has died and the first words out of his mouth are “I am grateful…for the time You gave me with my child” that is inspiring. Recalling that this man, in his darkest hour, offered thanks to God and not venom, will get me back on track when I’m feeling less than grateful because of some minor occurrence that threw me into a tizzy.

Another member made a point of saying that even if you do have negative thoughts but have a semblance of gratitude, your energy vibrates at a higher frequency. That will get the spiral headed upward towards positivity.

I was reminded that every moment is a moment in which I can choose to be grateful. Every moment is unique, will not be repeated ever again, and hence is a sole/soul(!) opportunity to be seized and savored. The expression “Wake up and smell the roses” came to mind.

When I feel gratitude, my heart is full and I am oftimes moved to tears, tears of joy. When Rog expressed a connection between gratitude and joy, I realized he was right. He expounds upon this in his book Choosing Joy at Work.

Speaking of work, we can sometimes be self-conscious about expressing appreciation of others to those folks, especially in a business setting. What a stark indicator of our increased separation from our fellows with whom we are One. This group member was going to go ahead anyway and be her authentic, expressive, appreciative self. Yes!

When I surround myself with people who not only feel grateful, but express it – like at last night’s meeting – I feel uplifted. And, for that I am grateful.

Mission Accomplished

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I have been blogging for eleven days now.

Originally, I thought I had to write at the crack of dawn and have it be a part of my morning practice.

But the other day when a wrench was thrown into my morning routine, blogging had to wait. And wait. And wait. I felt pressure to get something written before going to bed that night, feeling that I simply could not not enter anything. So I took the time to write. Of course it wasn’t about having to write as it was to consciously connect with Spirit. And, I did – mission accomplished.

The next day I wasn’t quite sure what to blog about but it turned out that my early morning dream was clearly about Spirit and hence, worthy of my blog. I put further thought into what the meaning of my dream meant in the context of my everyday so-called waking life, and blogged about it. I felt the increased nearness of Spirit – mission accomplished.

Yesterday, I simply inserted a prayer for the day’s entry – but not before I read it thoroughly and thought about its message, drawing me closer to Spirit – mission accomplished.

I can still be so boxed in with old ways of thinking. Now it is clear that the main purpose of my blogging – to connect more often and increasingly deeper with Spirit – can be achieved no matter what the time of day, no matter the form of the content.

Any time I blog, is one more time in my day in which I am pausing, contemplating, and more conscious of Spirit. It’s not about the doing: it’s about the being with Spirit. Mission accomplished.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

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Before my head hits the pillow at night, I find it helpful to constructively review my day.

I think about how I was as a person, i.e., how I treated all those I came into contact with. Was I kind and loving? Helpful? Could I have improved upon my behavior, my thinking? And, I make a list (mentally or in my journal) of the blessings. It is fascinating to look at something that initially seems like a negative and realize that it was really a blessing. There is a blessing in everything if I’m conscious.

This day, I think I was pretty ‘clean’ in how I treated all those I came into contact with. In particular, in a delicate situation, I was gentle and diplomatic as I posed a personal question to an acquaintance, and it was with the idea of helping her.

Ten blessings of this day for which I am grateful:
1. Morning coffee time with Rog where we talk mostly about Spirit
2. Hot shower
3. Receiving a check in the mail
4. Attended a planning meeting for a women’s workshop which further fostered two blooming friendships
5. Coffee with a friend at an outdoor café and caught up on her life and the world of real estate
6. Meditation and quiet time
7. Solo morning drive in which I got to sing to spiritual music, a form of prayer for me
8. Initiated getting together with someone outside of our business meetings in order to get to know one another better – and was warmly received
9. Reliable car filled with fuel
10. Evening dinner date with Rog

Coming up with a gratitude list makes me pause and reflect. It reveals to me that I have much to be thankful for. I find it a terrific exercise for my soul and, anytime I am feeling down, making a gratitude list lifts my spirit.

Now, to laying my head on that pillow…