July - August, 2011: FROM CATERPILLAR TO BUTTERFLY, ANYONE?

Whoever said, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" lived at the level of safety and sameness. Everything about the spiritual journey extends the invitation to color outside the margins in order to exchange predictability for a taste of risk taking uncertainty. Our 'mission possible' should we wish to accept it, becomes a reality shattering dose of discovering the varied brilliance of Universal MInd in Its uniquely creative action through us.

On a recent speaking trip to Saskatchewan and Edmonton, I had the opportunity to stay at a Catholic Retreat Center. It was gorgeous, simple and pristine, while at the same time offering all the amenities...outside of no television, WiFi hookup, radio, clocks or phones. So, I immediately asked myself, "Where are the amenities in this?" I discovered that what was so precious was that when seemingly being deprived of my creature comforts, I can moan and groan about it, or I can take a fresh new look around me and find out if, "It's All Good," where exactly the goodness exists. I found gorgeous meditation rooms and a sacred sanctuary. I roamed lush grounds resplendent in foliage and flowers, I savored simple, straightforward home cooking and generally I was more inclined toward the 'withinness' of my spiritual life, instead of hooking into the 'outsideness' of my physical experience.

I realized that although I can talk a pretty convincing game when it comes to embracing change, being a conscious change agent, forging new pathways in my subconscious mind that welcome change, when change actually appears, I compassionately see, "I can speak with forked tongue" and what blatantly appears is the resistance and hesitancy I feel in the throes of imminent shifting of my known world. The constant choice is whether we are congruent in thought, feeling, action. Do we express authentically in harmony with the opportunity to be at one with the change and to extract all the juiciness out of it? Will you investigate the following...

AWARENESS CONTEMPLATION:
When change is imminent and the 'precedesball is in my court,' what I do next? Do I choose to be a compassionate observer to what I feel and to explore my underlying thoughts and beliefs? Remember, thought precedes feeling. This reminds me of the time our family pulled up long time roots in one comfortably familiar New York City neighborhood in favor of moving out to the suburbs. I felt bereft and lonely and my efforts to enter into the possibility of making new friends and exploring new territory was secondary to the instinct to withdraw and withhold. The interesting conclusion to that experience was my mom, dad and brother, each in their individual ways, felt pretty much the same. Within less than a year, we moved back to our 'old neighborhood.' I'm not saying that was good or bad...it was just one of a variety of different ways we individually and collectively chose to deal with an uncomfortable situation...and here is the key element. In the midst of fear and anxiety related to the unknown, what is my usual way of choosing to deal with the situation? Quietly in a meditative state, contemplate, and then journal whatever spontaneous responses arise from deep within.

AFFIRMATIVE PRAYER:
I ask with faith, knowing there is that within me which answers. I choose to let the higher and mightier MInd of God reveal whatever represents me taking new, brave and positive steps forward in my adventurous approach to life. I release the lesser for the greater idea and for the perfect ways of implementation and dynamic action that lead me into a new empowered sense of who I Am, as well as providing for new inspired guidance. I welcome the opportunity to grow, stretch and to experience more of the nature of God as me. I know all is well, for wherever I Am, God Is and all that God Is...I Am. I gratefully accept that this is the way of Truth and it is my way now and always.