Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Are you recovering?

sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly~if you work for it, it will materialize!

Friday, August 23, 2013

The Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer~ Standy by for my Review!


It has really been a pleasure to work with the people at Harpo Productions. Positive energy is so important in this world, and it radiates from Oprah and everyone around her. When we were taping for the upcoming interview, I got to spend a fair amount of time talking to many of the production staff. 

I was pleased to see that they had read The Untethered Soul and gotten a lot from the book. Our discussions always seemed to come down to "Are there some concise tips for everyday life that would accelerate spiritual growth and awakening?" To augment my discussions with Oprah during the "Super Soul Sunday" interview, I thought I'd share my 12-Step Guide to Spiritual Awakening.

- Michael Singer


1. Realize that you are in there. 
You must first come to realize that you are in there. From deep inside, you are experiencing this world. You are experiencing your physical body, your thoughts and your emotions. You are conscious and you are experiencing what it is like to be human.

2. Realize that you are not okay in there.
Look to see what's going on inside. If you want to understand why you've done everything you have ever done, if you want to see what's really going on, just observe your mind and emotions—just experi­ence your inner state. If you objectively look, you will see that you are never completely at peace. You will see that you are not okay in there.

3. Realize that you're always trying to be okay. At any point when you look at the state of your inner being, you will see that something is bothering you. You will then notice that this causes urges, drives and impulses to do something about it. You will find yourself constantly trying to either get something or avoid something. All of this is done in an attempt to be okay.

4. Realize that your mind has taken on the job of figuring out how everything needs to be for you to be okay. If you watch, you will see that your mind is always telling you what you should and should not do, what others should and should not do, and how things should and should not be. All of this is the mind's attempt to first create a conceptual model of what would make you okay, and then try to get the outside world to match it.


5. Realize that the process of defining how the outside needs to be is not going to make you okay. You must seriously look at this process of trying to be okay. You've been at it your entire life—you've just tried different things at different times. While it's true that sometimes you manage to make it better for short periods of time, you know that you've never even come close to reaching a state of permanent peace. Watch very closely how you react to the things your mind has preferences about. You will see that if your mind gets what it wants, you feel joy; if it doesn't get what it wants, you feel disturbance. Likewise, when your mind experiences what it doesn't want, you feel disturbance, and when it avoids what it doesn't want, you feel relief. You will never be okay playing this game because the world will never match the conceptual model your mind has made up. Eventually, you will come to see that struggling to be okay does not work. At some point, you will try to find a different way to be okay in there.

6. Learn to not participate in the mind's struggle to be okay. This step is about learning to sit in the witness, the part of you that notices the inner urges to be okay. You must become comfortable with sitting in there and not participating in the inner energies. You learn to relax in the midst of them. You come to see that there is a habitual process in which the moment you feel inner disturbance, you are drawn into doing something about it. You must learn to sit inside and not participate in this process. If you truly understand that going outside to try to be okay inside doesn't work, then you'll be willing to sit inside and simply allow the disturbance to pass through. It is not difficult. If you can do this, all disturbance will cease by itself.

7. Learn to go about your life just like everyone else, except that nothing you do is for the pur­pose of trying to be okay. If you aren't so preoccupied with trying to be okay, you will be free to sit inside and quietly love, serve and honor whatever naturally unfolds in front of you. When you reach this point, you are no longer living for yourself. You are interacting with life, but not for the purpose of being okay.

8. As you sincerely let go of the inner energies you are watching, you begin to feel a deeper energy come in from behind. Up to this point, everything you were watching inside was in front of you. But now that you are no longer being drawn into those personal energies, you'll realize that your inner universe is actually very expansive. You will begin to feel Spirit flow in from behind. It lifts you and brings you great love and joy.
5. Realize that the process of defining how the outside needs to be is not going to make you okay. You must seriously look at this process of trying to be okay. You've been at it your entire life—you've just tried different things at different times. While it's true that sometimes you manage to make it better for short periods of time, you know that you've never even come close to reaching a state of permanent peace. Watch very closely how you react to the things your mind has preferences about. You will see that if your mind gets what it wants, you feel joy; if it doesn't get what it wants, you feel disturbance. Likewise, when your mind experiences what it doesn't want, you feel disturbance, and when it avoids what it doesn't want, you feel relief. You will never be okay playing this game because the world will never match the conceptual model your mind has made up. Eventually, you will come to see that struggling to be okay does not work. At some point, you will try to find a different way to be okay in there.

6. Learn to not participate in the mind's struggle to be okay. This step is about learning to sit in the witness, the part of you that notices the inner urges to be okay. You must become comfortable with sitting in there and not participating in the inner energies. You learn to relax in the midst of them. You come to see that there is a habitual process in which the moment you feel inner disturbance, you are drawn into doing something about it. You must learn to sit inside and not participate in this process. If you truly understand that going outside to try to be okay inside doesn't work, then you'll be willing to sit inside and simply allow the disturbance to pass through. It is not difficult. If you can do this, all disturbance will cease by itself.

7. Learn to go about your life just like everyone else, except that nothing you do is for the pur­pose of trying to be okay. If you aren't so preoccupied with trying to be okay, you will be free to sit inside and quietly love, serve and honor whatever naturally unfolds in front of you. When you reach this point, you are no longer living for yourself. You are interacting with life, but not for the purpose of being okay.

8. As you sincerely let go of the inner energies you are watching, you begin to feel a deeper energy come in from behind. Up to this point, everything you were watching inside was in front of you. But now that you are no longer being drawn into those personal energies, you'll realize that your inner universe is actually very expansive. You will begin to feel Spirit flow in from behind. It lifts you and brings you great love and joy.
9. Your inner experience becomes so beautiful that you fall in love with the energy itself, and you develop a very deep and personal relationship with it. It will become completely clear to you that there is an absolute trade-off between your personal ener­gies and the amount of Spirit that you feel. The more you get drawn into your personal energies, the less Spirit you feel. The more you don't participate in your personal energies, the more Spirit you feel. You now have a direct relationship with the spiritual energy, and you will find yourself constantly longing to experience it.

10. You begin to feel the energy pulling you up into it, and your entire path becomes letting go of yourself in order to merge. Will is no longer needed. Now your path is strictly about releasing yourself into the pull of the higher energy. You must surrender deeply enough to be able to overcome the fear of losing your connection to the personal self. You must to be willing to die to be reborn.

11. Once you get far enough back into the energy, you realize that your personal life can go on without you, leaving you free to become immersed in Spirit. This is the greatest miracle: You've surrendered and your entire life is about Spirit, yet people, places and things continue to interact with you. The difference is that these interactions require none of your energy. They happen naturally, by themselves, leaving you at peace and absorbed in Spirit.

12. Now you are truly okay, and nothing inside or outside of you can cause disturbance—you have come to peace with it all. Because you are now completely okay, you don't need anything. Things just are what they are. At this point, you know yourself as Self. The world, mind and heart cannot disturb you. You've transcended them all. What is more, instead of feeling drawn into Spirit, you now actually experience yourself as Spirit. You have no boundaries in time or space. You have always existed, and you will always exist. You have no form, shape, gender or body. You simply are, have always been and will always be—Infinite Spirit.

Copyright © 2012 by Michael A. Singer. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced without written permission. Based on The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, by Michael A. Singer, Oakland: New Harbinger Publications, 2007.
Published on August 01, 2012

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

You are a child of God!

"You are a child of God.  Nothing you do,
or think, or wish, or make, is necessary
to establish your worth."
Marianne Williamson
                                    

My photo taken at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, Vail, CO

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Little Gavin's Birthday Party!

Hey Superman!  You a such a special little 3 year old.
Thank you to your mom for letting you love us like you do.
xo, Grammie

Friday, August 9, 2013

Thanks be to God~

when troubled times come...they just do.
thank you God for letting me know you are right beside me...
i am thankful for small things and for great big things~ Gavin is 3 today and tomorrow we party :) peace~

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Thanks to God who gives me what I need~

What a difficult day~ I've written about it many times and challenge myself to make it right.  Work at Detxo tore me apart, yet I stayed and she went home.

Thank you God for grace, and please send me the word~


Wednesday, August 7, 2013

A Million moments of thanks~

for hard work and stamina~
i was so busy at my office today!
thank you~

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Grateful moments~

I have such gratitufe for the women in my life~
thank you girls, xo

Monday, August 5, 2013

A Million Days of Gratitude and thoughts on Dad~

I am quite sure by now that God is playing with me~  For quite some time I have gotten days, and dates, and times all mixed up.  This evening, I suddenly knew that today was a very special day and that there needed to be a time for me to be alone to recall and remember.  My precious Daddy died 6 months ago today~ the tears came, the disbelief that it seems like yesterday he strolled into my house for a chat, dinner, to drop off some flowers, or to hide something in the grill :), to hear him to tell me how much he loved me, to leave me with wet kisses.  It feels like I should able to close my eyes and when I open them, hear Dad and Scottie talking in the porch while I get Dad some ice tea.  If only.... if only for one moment I could reach out and touch him, see him, smile at him, chat.  I am grateful today to have had the Dad I had.  There is no one like him, there never could be.  I love you Daddy, thank you~ Pooh

And while God is busy protecting me until I'm ready, a bit later it came to me that my Mom and Dad died within 4-1/2 years of each other, and that in my grief I feel such joy that they are together, for they were never meant to be apart, happy, healthy, and no doubt watching the hummers flit and fly around the heavens, just as I am doing here :)  I am grateful that God meets me where I'm at and protects me until he knows I'm ready~ thank you!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Days of Gratitude~

I love Sundays at home~  There's something about them that feels slow, and quiet, and safe.  I belong to myself for a few short hours and cherish reading, resting, and talking with my sweetie.  I am grateful for today and the peace I feel~

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Days of Gratitute~

I have a funny little story about a co-worker that had treated me quite poorly since I began working with her nearly 4 years ago~  She referred to me as "that new counselor" and "her" and "she"...I often reminded her what my name was but that didn't really help.  I treated her as I treat others even though I often felt hurt and sad.  Our work is tough enough and I didn't understand her but then sometimes I'm just not suppose to understand....  She began to date a man several months ago (her husband had died nearly two years ago) and things didn't go well.  I offered up some words of comfort occasionally and in time she began talking to me about her difficulties...   This morning I mentioned that I was struggling with the loss of my parents, and at the same time, my siblings, for we had not weathered our parents end of life happenings and I am estranged from them that at this time~  She said, "ok", folded her hands, closed her eyes, and said this~
"May God's goodness and light surround you.
  May God's goodness and light fill you.
  May God's goodness and light protect you.
  May God's goodness and light heal you, Cynthia."
She went on to speack about me, my parents, and my brothers and sister as we sat with our eyes closed,   right there in the nurses office (she is a nurse) where we had just finished morning report.  I suppose other staff wandered about us, I do not know.  I just soaked in this unexpected love.  I am grateful for unexpected love today~

Friday, August 2, 2013

I Miss You Mom ~ 5 Years Ago Today

OH Gosh~ Hi Momma.  You've been gone 5 years today.  It feels like a million days, and more.  Kates sent me a sweet text and called.  She misses you~ probabaly as much as I do.  What a beautiful legacy you left my baby girl.  She is so much like you.  Pretty little packages, tender little notes, a posey here, and a sweet pillow there... Not a day passes without seeing or touching something that reminds me of you~  My heart aches mightily some days just trying to beliee I won't see you again, ever, at least here.  Wood said, Ohhhhhhhhh Mere.  He misses you too, mightily.  You were his Mom~  I wish you had told me how hard this would be...  you told me almost everything else, but not this...  I keep waiting to get use to it, keep waiting for my perspective to change, to exalt fully in the life you had, the life we shared, and accept fully your presence in my heart and memories.  Some days I feel it, some days I think I'll get it, that the change will happen~but most days I just don't, maybe I can't, or won't.  Maybe, just maybe, I'm not suppose to.  Maybe it's suppose to be this way, just the way it is.  I think that's it.  I am to accept just where I am today, not questioning, not trying to push or expect, just to be, exactly where I am.  I love you Momma, I miss you more~  Thank you for helping me understand~thank you for listening.

Your Eldest Daughter :)
Pooh

Thursday, August 1, 2013

A Million Days of Gratitude~



For so long I had done a daily gratitude note~ so where did it go...life interrupted I guess.  Not that I don't feel and express gratitude with nearly every breath I take, because I do, but I am coming to understand something greater, a loss of the me I knew, the me with a Mom, and the me with a Dad.  My parents~ my Mom and Dad.  I keep saying that I feel the layer above me is gone~ the love, support and the daily care, and so much more, the knowing.  That layer or blanket is gone...forever from my sight and my touch, but forever locked within my heart~  As I move through this time of my life I know I will find how I fit in to all of this...won't I?  I feel uncertain some days....

I am deeply grateful for the gift of love.  The love I always felt and never questioned from my parents.  The love they freely gave to each other, and to me.