Miracles do happen

Miracles do happen

We wait for the holy season of Christmas, Hanukah or any number of religious holy holidays to look for miracles to happen. Movies about the same that occur on christmas time are abound, all instilling a warm feeling of magic in the air and the possibilities that anything can happen. Yet what if we do not have to wait for the holidays for that to happen. I would respectfully submit that miracles are happening constantly all around us, yet are we open enough to recognize them, accept and acknowledge them is the real issue.

Miracles occur all the time in numerous forms. A few examples can be demonstrated. What about the miracle of a child being born healthy without any deformities or ailments. If you study human  embryology and see the literally infinite processes that have to occur in order to produce a single healthy human being, and the number of named illnesses that are realized due to failed processes, it is a wonder that we even have a human race. The miracle of a family eating a meal together. The increasing number of fractured families, or even families that have parents working multiple jobs and shifts and unable to be together on a nightly basis to share a meal is quite staggering and humbling. The miracle of drinking clean water, consuming a healthy meal, wearing decent clothes, owning a vehicle to drive are all other day to day examples of what many take for granted and others will proclaim a miracle. 

Miracles might be getting a chance to talk to a friend you have not met in years, who out of the blue gives you a call. Being  able to freely practice your religion without the fear of persecution or reprisal may be yet another example. If we live our lives with this expectant behavior that a beautiful miracle will unfold every day and that we will be present enough to see it, perhaps then we will. If we live every moment as if it were our last, then every moment will last. Wishing for a miracle unfortunately is a naive way to live, akin to sitting on the  couch and changing the channel with a remote. Participation is a key ingredient, coupled with a dose of faith, a cup of expectation and a spoonful of presence of mind. So do not wait for miracles to happen.You have to become the miracle you choose to see in your life. Becoming a kinder, gentler and more compassionate person takes practice and patience. In today's world it is a tall order but more miraculous things have happened such as you recognizing changes in your self that need to happen, or the shift of energies that are happening, or the connected and loving person that you already have become.

Are you performing miracles? Perhaps you are a saint in disguise.

Conducting your own orchestra

Conducting your own Orchestra

The elegance of enjoying an orchestral performance is a cherished experience.  The well dressed musicians with their shiny instruments and crisp music sheets, all  perfectly seated at the pleasure of the conductor. The quiet hush falls upon the theater as the conductor comes to center stage beautifully encased with the glow of the spot light. Perfectly dressed, he or she bows cordially to the  audience, and turns to the musicians who revere his every action. With grace and poise the conductor's stick rises after tapping the lectern for attention. The conductor then instructs the players to perform their musical talent in harmony and with correct timing, transforming the notes on the pages into a well formed melodious reality to our ears and our hearts.

The conductor is our soul. The musicians are our multifaceted ego personalities    of how we present ourselves to the world. There is no such thing as a bad conductor. His or her job is primarily to guide, instruct, and expect the best and the most appropriate tune to come out of the ego. Yet a untalented musician is what translates into the out of sync and out of tune ego. The conducting spirit is trying its level best to make the orchestra, namely you, perform at its best with the collection of egos it has at its disposal. The unfocussed ego can derail the orchestra, however a keen and disciplined minded ego can enable the flow of a beautifully devised harmonic piece. The audience namely the world, will only see what is presented to them, good or bad. 

The conductor will always do their best to keep the musical flow  going. The human experiences are the movements of the musical piece, if well played out are indeed fabulous, if not then quite disastrous. Having a good band of musicians (personality egos) is therefore a key element. They need to practice, practice and practice being focussed, in tune, aware of their instruments (limitations) and the book of music they need to follow, and of course acknowledging  along the guidance of the "spirit" conductor.  The musical composition itself can be represented as the purpose of ones life. The conductor will guide this out with gestures of tempo, dynamics and phrases, and the musical ego must follow along and play when meant to in accordance with the ensemble or otherwise be silent. 

We all want our finale to be one of lasting remembrance, and the conductor will do just that, with the right group of egos. We seek to have egos that are virtuosos but need to be able to follow your divine will, or your conductor's stick. The aim in life is to have the conductor and the orchestral egos in harmonic synchrony such that the tune performed is perfect, or at least perfect enough for the ears of the world to appreciate. The last thing we want is orchestral dissonance when one ego is playing treble and the other bass, or one is playing an adagio and the other playing a capriccio, what a sordid din. Put the time in to training your musician egos. Patience, practice and tolerance is a good way to start. Enable each musician or ego feel that they are part of something much bigger than themselves and so foster the feeling of an ensemble. The conductor does this well if given the opportunity. A conductorless orchestra is usually never well remembered for its musical prowess. 

Tap Tap Tap.....Is your orchestra ready to play your divine composition?

Being on hold

Being on hold

Ring, Ring Ring

" Hello please stay on the line for the next available operator"

And so the wait begins....

How much time do we spend day to day on the phone and on hold waiting for our party to be reached. How much time do we spend day to day waiting for the next big thing to happen to us and in doing so being on hold with our selves and our futures. We always feel that today is not the day for anything major to happen or that even if anything does happen, it falls short of our spectacular expectation of grandeur. We somehow expect that the heavens will open up and  the opportunities or intentions we seek will be presented to us on a silver platter. We fail to recognize the  subtle changes that occur on a daily basis that are all part of the whole picture that eventually leads to our goal. 

Being on hold is a very tough way to live. Impatience is a symptom of the mind, yet the soul needs this time "on hold" to allow the process to unfold. One might say that staying on hold is necessary to gather ones' thoughts. It teaches the art of patience and in so doing allow the eventual accomplished goal to be more enjoyable. Once the hold time has been digested the spirit is more apt to move forward with purpose. Many a time we are so impatient that we cannot wait for the text that we have just written to be sent, and frustrated when the reply is not received immediately. We cannot wait for the signal when calling another phone to go into space, hit a satellite and return to earth to the phone of our caller without some sort of thought or verbal irritable response after we hit the send button on our phone. Even the momentary pause before we think and act will give us the time we need to reset the hold moment and become fully  engaged when the "hold' moment is over.

The more connected we are the faster we choose to have our needs met. Imagine what life was like when we used to use "snail" mail letters, the telegram, and these days the soon to be outdated slow fax machine. Unfortunately the "please hold" is becoming obsolete when even the customer service these days on phone calls is fully automatic, in that you either age rapidly while waiting for the never returning human operator or you give up with frustration with the same breath. I enjoy being on hold during a busy day as it forces my restless mind to realize that it has no choice but to stand still, or not complete the call. It  is forced to make a choice and in doing so has to take the onus for the choice. Be present or  not to be  present, that is the question and choice you are asking your mind to make. The more the quiet sets in, and the more present you are while  being on hold, you soon realize that the time lapsed is not only minute, yet the space in between if given the chance to unfold is preciously infinite in a positive way. Sometimes the universe gives you these "please stay on the line and hold" moments intentionally so that you can realize the beauty of the ever expansive nature of creation and be in awe of just that, namely the moment.

Here are some exercises to keep You entertained. Try to identify the music pieces that are played during some of these on hold moments. Try to gather your thoughts at these junctures. Try to just breathe and clear your mind during these cross roads of your day. Try to enjoy the passage of time without you in it during these moments. If you must then occupy your mind with another task while you wait on the phone, but know that You are always patiently waiting for your  mind, ego, and body to simply catch up. You might realize that after waiting long enough that the person on the other end of your "call on hold" might in fact be just You, what a pleasant thing to find YourSelf in the middle of your day.

Please do not interrupt me, I am on hold.

Think, love, play

Think,love &play

If you have not seen the movie with Julia Roberts titled Eat Love and Pray, it is a must see for any adult in a fog, wishing to lose themselves and find themselves once again. It is one of those"  feel good "movies and continues to inspire many to come out of their shell-like lives. I thought about this and then observing my little son I see how he behaves, interacts and maintains his "awe for everything" like nature. A very simple and instinctive way of living yet very peaceful and serene and natural. I wonder at times why does he not need to leave everything to go find himself or is he finding himself daily, and if so how does he do it, and more over to what end. 

He thinks about what he is doing, even though at times almost instinctive and primal however he spends his time creating imaginary plots of construction or elaborate story ideas of adventures and immerses himself wholeheartedly into them ( I usually get dragged in). He is in the moment and with that same tidal force expands his childlike creativity. So what happens when we become adults. Are we so focussed on thinking that we fail to do? Spending oceans of time thinking, rethinking and unthinking makes us tired, complacent and then not creative enough. Our instinctive  natures are curbed and our creativity curtailed prematurely. Perhaps more time should be spend being in the  moment and just doing, and letting things flow at home and at the workplace, making us more productive, momentarily conscientious.

He loves everything and anything. He hugs a tree, another child, his teachers, family and friends without care. With full and unconditional love he explores his world and learns a great deal. More than open eyes, we need to open up our hearts and welcome in the love that is all around us in the form of the same matter that we are all made up of, and in doing so automatically reflect it outwards. With the free flow of this unstoppable positive energy it is not possible to hurt another, commit crimes or harm ourselves. Engulfed in a sea of this compassion, we can ride the waves of forgiveness and reach our goals.

He plays with everything. I cannot keep him out of his exploration of pots, pans, my tools, the car gadgets, my office supplies, even my ties are a great source of fun as he unfolds each one and lays them on the floor creating an imaginary colorful flying carpet. Again through play, a child will tell us their fears and their dreams, if of course  we dare to listen. It is their ability to make everything fun. Every child is teaching an adult, be it a caregiver, parent, teacher, or grandparent, of how to live. Through play all things are fun and attainable. If you do the hardest task at home or at work yet do it in a game-like fashion you cause the mind to have fun completing the task and in doing so complete it in a more productive timeline. 

Are we thinking too much, loving not enough and forgetting to play? All children grow up and become adults, like us. Yet if we do not knock out these key senses they currently possess, I wonder how much better and more advanced they will be in comparison. Moreover I wonder if we learn from their senses, I wonder how much more fun we can have as adults right here and now. Eat, love and pray or think, love and play, or live, laugh and love. There seems to be a common theme and word. Can you guess which one?

 Have these  3 little words changed your life?

Pruning your landscape

Pruning your landscape.

I am sure you have all at some point in your lives tended a garden, or a flower bed or a bunch of bushes on your property, or at the very least cared for a flower. When part of the shrubbery or the flower or a tree dies, we feel a sense of sorrow.Yet healthier maintenance of the botanical life may have avoided their end result. Caring for these plants is  not easy and takes great patience, love and compassion. It instills a primal nature within us of caring, which can be applied to our lives as well. Take for example a bonsai  tree plant. Years of dedicated trimming, pruning, adjusting branches, careful watering and sunlight exposure all eventually reveal a beautiful miniature tree, with elegant branches and strong leaves. Not an easy undertaking, trust me I have tried. The process of maintenance is rather a spiritual journey for the plant and for you in turn. It survives as you are in the moment, aware, alert and focussed on your task of care, and you in turn are  rewarded by being in the moment and being aware of your task at hand, and so appropriately trim the correct foliage, and preserve the delicate balance needed for survival. 

Apply this little bonsai tree to your life. It knows the elements needed for survival namely sunlight, water, soil nutrition and the nurturing hand of the gardener, you. Now imagine this tree is you. The universe happily will provide in abundance all the elements that you need to "survive". I would argue that everything you need is already present for you in the here and now. What you need to" live" is in your hand. Pruning away the dead or dying foliage is key. If you do not do this simple practice on a regular basis you will end up in overgrown weeds, top heavy branches, and general ill health of your plant ergo your spirit. Trimming back the dying leaves and branches are symbolic for you to trim away your prejudices, your unforgiven encounters, your jealously, your myopic judgments and your unresolved fears. Giving way to the tree leaves to "breathe" is essential as your spirit in kind breathes freer air of compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, and endurance.

As a gardner trims back the branches and shapes the shrubbery, you too must shape your mental and spiritual landscape. Shape your life into one of decency, character, beauty, respect and integrity. You can do this with the same insight that a gardener has as he or she envisions what they would like their garden to look like. So too you can modify your ego and portray what you wish your garden or spiritual Self chooses to reveal. Using your life's experiences to bring about the necessary pruning to your mind is a helpful tool as you know what you can and cannot trim. Do not be afraid of getting on your knees and getting your hands dirtier as you get to the bottom of the dead roots and yank them out. The deeper you  go in meditation, the deeper you will find old fears, troubles, worries that have prevented you from growing outward and upward. Continuously be mindful of your thoughts and aware of the shape your mind, spirit and consciousness takes on as you tend your garden of the soul.

Today is a beautiful day to take out your shears and have fun pruning. 

Updating your software

Updating your software

We ( our spirits ) are born with a freshly installed software package right out of the box. Over the course of time this  software gets corrupted with false ideas, hurtful beliefs and obsolete notions just like  cookies, spam, and miscellaneous out of date versions. In later years your mind gets slower to process and adapt to changing times, and the hardware and the software become incompatible. Newer applications of life situations are unable to run on your archaic version of software of your mind. 

Within your spirit you have been programmed with beliefs of others such as "you are not good enough", " you won't mount to much", "you are too small, too weak, too uneducated, too poor, not good looking enough", or " you cannot do this or you cannot do that". We then forcibly exist in  our lives being confined within our vision of ourselves as seen  by others. Yet one day something glorious happens and we get awakened to realize that our lives are not to be confined but be celebrated. Our spirit is more than the sum of the negative comments that we have brought about, however quite the opposite. We are beings of light confined in physical form and we have the abilities to do anything that we choose to accomplish. We then  have to find a better operating system to help manage the new software that we must reinstall. 

Reprogramming your mind with affirmations of being empowered, being rejuvenated, being all that you choose to be and can be, will usually jump start your spirit and energy to  new high heights, accommodating your true reality. It is all about upgrading your mental and spiritual software. Granted this may take some time as various negative ideas have been deeply hidden inside your "computer" or your Self, so you must be patient with yourself during the reinstallation and reformatting process. Additionally, many a time viruses have been downloaded and taken root hold of your software. I think it is time to use more powerful anti-virus software with more focussed meditative techniques with stronger feelings of acceptances of positive ideals. Put up your "firewalls" with understandings of gratitude, compassion and forgiveness and see your new software programs soar to faster speeds. Higher frequency energies are awaiting to be harnessed as more interesting life experiences are waiting for your new operating system to handle.

Having difficulty updating your software? Call upon your spiritual tech support. 

Troubleshooting your life

Trouble shooting your life

Tough decisions. Resolute ideas. Puzzling questions. Enlightening answers. We go through this seemingly endless list of door stops with the intervening "Aha" moments in our days and our lives. Sometimes these "stop and go" events are presented to us by ourselves or by other people and circumstances beyond our control. My thought on this has been consistently not of the mindset that the questions or even the answers are more important, yet  rather how we compose ourselves during these moments. It is the choices that we take in the heat of the moment that determine our course. Our frame of mind if calm and always in the present will affect the course change that we most desire. If not then the hurried and rushed choices will probably backfire or not take us to the correct destination. 

Life's complexities are challenges to be overcome and not obstacles to be avoided. It is when we have to face our fears and instill the peace within the storm that we have the greatest results. The cumulative experiences of our lives gives us character, yet it is the trouble shooting in our lives that earns us the wisdom and courage. Most of the time challenges are a good thing, as under pressure we are tested to see how we will shape up forthe brighter future that lays ahead. These challenges on some sub conscious level are inserted into our experiential panel by our Selves to see what happens. When you take a piece of carbon and put it under extreme pressure a diamond may come out. So too is the idea that under pressure something spectacular is waiting to come out of all of us.

Yes and no. Take the risk or play it safe. Accept or decline. Move forward or stay where you are. We spend so much of time analyzing each decision before we take it and then invariably are never  satisfied with the plan at hand. This is not troubleshooting. To borrow a term from a friend, this is "monkey minding" your life. Trouble shooting needs a modicum of faith splashed in with a spoon of courage and dosed with a pinch of focus to bring about the clarity of thought that will help make smoother decisions. You can always call upon help from physical sources of friends or family and of course from your Source to assist you in your endeavors. You can chisel  your life into  a beautiful masterpiece or neglect it and let it become a mountain of unhappiness. It depends on your choice and your trouble shooting skills. 

Hard time troubleshooting? Consult your spiritual trouble shooting manual.