We Need A Little Christmas ...

Celebrate Every Day

Life has suddenly become so stress-filled for so many of us.

We find ourselves wondering, each day, how we will survive financially, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Challenges, that we may once have invited as avenues to make us stronger, suddenly invite anger, depression, escapism, and spiritual death.

In order to maintain a balance of our love and appreciation of life, we need to celebrate each day and invite happiness to prevail over our trials.

We all know someone who keeps plastic covers on his or her sofa in order to protect it.

The irony here is that many of these people may live their lives without ever having actually made contact with their own furniture! This is a poignant and somewhat humorous example of the human tendency to try to save things for special occasions, as if everyday life weren't special enough to warrant the use of nice things.

Many of us have had the experience of never wearing a particular piece of clothing in order to keep it nice, only to have it go out of style or outgrow it in the meanwhile.

I remember when we purchased our good silver. It was beyond our financial means 20 years ago, but we wanted to establish some sort of a heritage. Interestingly, once we chose a pattern and committed ourselves to the purchase, the sales associate immediately began to sell us items in which to store away our accomplishment to keep it safe from the effects of sunlight and oxygen.

Why?

I have a friend who uses her silver and crystal daily. Meanwhile, our silver is packed up and too tarnished to be bothered with.

It's interesting to think of what it would mean to us if we let ourselves wear our nicest clothes and eat off the good china with our silver and crystal on a daily basis. We might be sending ourselves the message that every day we are alive is a special day and a cause for celebration, and that we are worth it.

There is something uplifting about treating ourselves to the finest of what we have. It is as if we rise to the occasion when we wear our best clothes and set the table beautifully, as if for a very special guest.

We are more mindful of where we place things, what we are eating, and who is with us. Using the good china, taking a meal at the Dining Room table, and taking the plastic off the sofa might just be an invitation for us be more conscious of the beauty and grace which is inherent in our everyday lives.

If there are things we've stashed away for a special occasion --a bottle of special wine, a new pair of shoes, an antique lace tablecloth -- we need to consider taking them out of their hiding places and putting them to use today or tonight ... just because we are alive now to enjoy them.

What better cause is there for celebration?

So ... dress in your finest, behave at your giddiest, break out the finest of all, invite your loved owns over for a spontaneous party.

In the words of Auntie Mame; "We need a little Christmas, right this very minute ..."

With love & light,

Rob

Life Can Be Scary

I have always loved a challenge.

Or ... so I think.

Life can take us on a roller coaster ride full of highs and lows and twists and turns.

Even for those of us who enjoy unexpected thrills, it is frightening to suddenly find ourselves heading for a deep plunge. However, it happens to all of us.

It is at these moments when it is important to remember that we are not alone in our experiences. No matter how brave, how strong, or how levelheaded we are, at some times we all become scared or afraid.

Our fears may evolve around our physical safety, particularly if we are not feeling well, living under difficult circumstances, or doing work that exposes us to hazardous conditions.

Perhaps we may be experiencing financial woes that cause us to be fearful about making ends meet, afraid that we may lose the very home in which we've lived and loved. Or, we may fear losing investments that we have worked hard for in hopes of procuring financial security in retirement.

We may also fear the loss of a loved one who is sick, or we may never have been with someone and may be afraid of never finding someone special to spend our life with.

We may be scared to start at a new school, or be afraid of being denied admittance to one.

We may be afraid of beginning a different job, or be scared of losing a job we have.

We may be scared of moving to a new town, and afraid of losing the friends we've known ... the life we've enjoyed.

Whatever our fears are, they are valid, and we do not need to feel ashamed or embarrassed that we are, at times, frightened, afraid, and scared.

It may be comforting to know that everyone becomes each of these, and that is okay.

Sometimes just acknowledging our fears is enough to make us feel better.

Also, while it sometimes takes a lot more to ease our mind, we can console ourselves with the knowledge that life can be scary at times and that we are not the only ones who are afraid.

When we allow ourselves the permission to be scared or afraid, we allow ourselves to move forward through our fears so we can let them go and we can grow within ourselves through faith.

That growth, through faith, also makes us able to share our fears with others - therefore allowing the grace of God to work within us and through us, using our own difficulties, fears, and challenges as a channel in which we can guide others through the waters of life, and nurture faith in others.

Much like the ship that enters the unknown harbor, awaiting the pilot boat to navigate the waters ahead, sharing our apprehensions with others allow even our own fears to be realized as far less overwhelming as we invite the assistance and guidance of others to work as lighthouses against our own reefs.

When we share our own fears, we lighten our burden because we no longer carrying our worries all by ourselves.

We accept the gift of friends to bear the burden of our own Cross.

When we ask someone to be mindful, in meditation or in prayer, we invoke a power that is greater that any nation.

We invoke a power of love, spirit, togetherness, and faith.

With love, we can overcome any obstacle.

With spirit, we can reach far beyond our dreams.

With togetherness, we can outshine any darkness.

With faith, we do live eternally.

So, what we learn, is that we can lose many things which are afraid of losing, and we can encounter many situations which we are scared to step in to.

However, we can never lose our love, our spirit, our togetherness, our faith.

Remember ... we are never alone.

With love, light & faith,

Rob

A Soft Touch in Hard Times

Life is very tough.

Throughout life we must cope with blockages that impede our forward momentum ans seem to attempt to keep us from a peaceful inner existence.

Quite often, it is natural for us to respond with anger and frustration, but that does not equate with the peacefulness that we seek for one another.

Whether these obstacles are of a personal, professional, or societal nature, our first instinct may be to push against the obstruction. However, the simplest way to alleviate resistance is to approach it gently, with a soft manner and kind intentions.

To quell the storm, if you will.

Struggle and strife can find no foothold when confronted with mildness because conflict can only exist when fed by two opposing forces.

So many areas of our lives can benefit from the application of gentleness.

The beauty of gentleness lies in its own multifaceted nature. It is part love, part compassion, part patience, part understanding, and part respect for others.

When we move through life gently as a matter of course, we naturally attract these wonderful elements into our lives.

This does not mean that gentle people are by nature passive or meek. Rather, their copious inner power is manifested in their gentleness and their choice to move with the flow of the universe instead of against it.

We can make use of gentleness in our own life by applying it in situations where we feel challenged by our circumstances, by people in our environment, or by our own helplessness in wanted to bring healing to another.

Quite often, caring for another is a misunderstood anomaly as we are not accustomed to accepting what life holds before us.

However, it is important that we move forward.

As we move forward gently, the energy pervading our life will likely shift and, consequently, the blockages before us will diminish and ultimately vanish.

Cooperation progresses smoothly when approached gently because all parties involved feel confident that their needs will be met.

Quarrels are easily quelled with gentleness because the dualistic concepts of losing and winning are made moot by our willingness to exercise infinite patience with those whose values differ from our own.

Gentleness must be practiced, as we are inadvertently encouraged to act competitively in certain phases of our lives, fighting against nature and its inherent realities.

At first, our established habits may make being truly gentle challenging. Yet, as we grow and mature, we can commit to consciously apply gentleness to all areas of our life, whether by collaborating rather than competing, or yielding graciously to the impassable roadblocks in our path in order to seek a new road.

We will find that we begin to act gently.

Some might interpret this as weakness. However, it is strength is growth as we accept the lessons of this wonderful teacher called life.

As our patterns of thought and behavior become ever more peaceful, we will discover that we encounter far less impassable resistance on our individual journeys.

Also, as we discover this, we accept that no one walks alone in her or his journey.

Sometimes, it is easier to accept a held hand with our eyes closed.

Perhaps a held hand and closed eyes open our inner eye to all those who walk with us.

With love & light,

Rob

Life's Lessons

Most of us have the ultimate respect for teachers, as it is they who tend the gardens of our lives.

Many teachers, like gardeners, give their unlimited all in exchange for the sidelined gratification of silently seeing the fruits of their labor emerge into new life. Much like parents, they watch as their nurtured youth grow, take form, and fly - perhaps soar.

Many of us long to find a teacher, or guru, or spiritual guide. We may feel uncertain of how to practice our spirituality without one, or we may long for someone who has attained a higher level of insight to lead the way for us throughout this difficult and trying life.

Some of us seek such guidance for years without finding compatibility. Others are blessed with a match, without much seeking.

The good news is that the greatest teacher we could ever want has been appointed for us since before birth and is always with us.

Life.

The people and situations we encounter every day have much to teach us when we are open to receiving their wisdom.

Often, we don’t recognize our teachers because they may not look or act like the teachers from our youth, our vision of a guru, or our concept of a spiritual person. However, our teachers embody great wisdom.

Sometimes, our teachers find our lessons in situations that we neither invite nor want. All the situations in our lives, from the insignificant to the severe, aspire to teach us exactly what we need to be learning at any given time.

The lesson plan, however, is not ours.

Patience, compassion, perseverance, honesty, letting go - all these are covered in the classroom of God by the teacher that is life.

We can help ourselves to remember this perfect teacher each day with a simple reflection. We can begin our day by taking a moment to say;
"I acknowledge and honor the teacher that is my life. May I be wise enough to recognize the teachers and lessons that I encounter today, and may I be open to receive them and remain thankful for their wisdom."

We might also take some time each day to consider what our lives are trying to teach us - some time to listen to the Spirit of guidance, which we so often pray for. A difficult phase in the relationship with our employment, life partner, family, or friendship, may be teaching us to be prepared to let go.

The homeless person we see every day may be showing us the boundaries of our compassion and generosity.

A sudden onset of lost items may be asking us to be more cognizant of our physical realities.

A sudden turn about in the health of a loved one may be reminding us to give great thanks and glory to God for the world of marvel in which we live, and for life itself as each moment passes in a never turning tide.

I watched the Sun rise the other morning as I traveled to New York, and it was beautiful. My Mom always tells me how much she loves the Sunrise from her front patios, which overlook the Delaware Water Gap from about 20 miles.

As I watched the morning's Sun rise, I noticed that it was reminiscent of a Spring morning. How peculiar for Autumn. For 21 years now, Frank and I have always wanted to photograph that beautiful morning moment, which so many people miss.

We still haven't done that.

Today, I wondered what lesson God's nature was teaching me with that gentle reminder of Spring at the onset of Autumn.

When we trust our intuition on the nature of the lesson at hand, work at our own pace, and ask as many questions as we need, we learn that life has all the answers.

All we need to do is learn.

With love & light,

Rob

Making Life Ours

There is no secret recipe for happiness and contentment.

Those who move through life joyfully and embrace life's slings and arrows with faith-filled bliss have not necessarily been blessed with lives of abundance, love, health, and prosperity.

Such people, however, have been blessed with the ability to take the circumstances they've been become embroiled in and understand them as an opportunity to nurture them and grow them into something great.

Our individual realities are colored by perception.

Delight and despair come from within rather than without. Situations we regard as fortuitous please us while situations we judge as inauspicious cause us unending grief.

However, if we look at all we have accomplished without dwelling on our perceived misfortune, and make each new circumstance our own, the world as a whole becomes a brighter place.

A simple shift in attitude can help us to recognize and unearth the hidden potential for personal and outer world fulfilment in every event, every relationship, and every hardship.

The universe is often an unpredictable and chaotic place, and our human tendency is to focus on the negative and trust that the positive will manifest itself.

In reality, life can be no more or no less than what we make of it.

If we are working in a job we dislike, we can concentrate on the positive aspects of the position and approach our work with renewable vigor.

We might ask what we can do with this job that can turn it around so we enjoy it.

When faced with the prospect of undertaking a task we fear, we can view it as an opportunity to discover what we are truly capable of doing, given the power and strength of faith.

Similarly, unexpected events, whether viewed as pleasant surprises or unforeseen tragedies, can season our existence.

For some situations, the word "season" will be defined as adding flavor or spice, for others it will be defined as to age into another season of life, such as a wooden table or a cast iron skillet allows life to graduate its existence.

Either way, when we choose to love life no matter what crosses our path, we create an atmosphere of jubilant celebration that is wonderfully infectious.

A change in perspective is all it takes to change our world, but we must be willing to adopt an optimistic, hopeful, and faith filled mind-set.

To make a conscious decision to be at peace in the face of adversity is not enough.

We must learn to observe life's complexities as through the eyes of a child, seeing everything for the first time.

Furthermore, we must divest ourselves of pre-conceived notions of what is good and what is bad so that we can appreciate the rich insights concealed in each stage of our life's journey.

As we strive to discover the dual joys of wanting what we have, as we gradually shift our perspective, our existence will be imbued with the happiness and contentment that God has sought to provide us and that we wish for each other in life and in death.

When we embrace this reality, not only will this Spirit remain with us forever, but it will live on through us in spiritual energy here on Earth.

With love & light,

Rob

Look To The Sky

When people say that one has his or her "head in the clouds," they usually refer to a mental state that appears to be drifting rather than concentrating. For this reason, putting our heads in the clouds can be a wonderful meditation tool. Whether puffy and white or tinted with the colors of dawn and dusk or shades of gray and darkness, those vaporous sky dwellers can remind us of so many things about life and about ourselves.

I sat outside of my office today, as I often do, and I watched the clouds go by and change their shapes. This provided for some healthy reflection.

For this sort of meditation, we can find a physical place to relax and look upward, or we can look to the skies from within our imaginations.

Directing our thoughts to the endless expanse of sky that clouds inhabit, we feel our souls expand to reach beyond any seeming limitations. Following the clouds, we are free to unleash our imaginations. We may choose to merely drift along with them for a time, enjoying their distanced perspective on the world. Or we can look for messages in their fantastical shapes. Even still, we can just sit, watch, and wonder as we feel the joy of their immense billowy puffiness.

However we interact with them, we do so from a peaceful place. Clouds drift above the hustle of the world below, knowing they belong to another realm that cannot be affected by the frenzy below, reminding us that peace is always available to us.

By directing our vision beyond the ordinary, clouds also remind us of the illusion of appearances. While appearing to be solid, their vapor and mist appear like puffs of cotton balls.

From below, they give little indication of the heights they reach.

Sometimes they may cast shadows, leaving us in shade, but like life's difficulties clouds change shape and move onward, revealing the shining sun, twinkling stars, and blue sky that eternally exist beyond them.

When a ray of light breaks through the clouds, their dramatic filtering only makes the light more beautiful by contrast, just as we can shine more brightly in the midst of life's challenges.

When we allow clouds to offer us a welcome respite, they help us visit the realm of illusion to see the truth beyond.

God's nature offers us so much when we seek peace.

Look to the sky and trust in it's change and wonder.

With love & light,

Rob

Accepting Life As It Happens

Life has been challenging lately.

I usually embrace challenge and see it as opportunity. However, lately I have felt overwhelmed by the life this past year has brought to me and am eager to get past it and move ahead.

On 07 July, I wrote about "this too shall pass" and on 14 August I wrote about my goldfish pond and the cycle of life that it recalls me to when I feel sad or alone. I look at the pond and I know that when winter comes, the fish will hibernate beneath the cold ice above - just to return to life come Springtime.

Today, when the pond was approached for quiet reflection, it was discovered that the dozens of fish that lived there had died.

My immediate thought was how to see this as an opportunity, but that didn't take hold. I could only think "what more can happen?". I admit that I feared the answer to that and while I wished that this year would just end already, I was afraid of jumping to the future in haste and not appreciating what is here and now, no matter the situation.

We all go through times when we wish we could press a fast-forward button and propel ourselves into the future and out of our current circumstances. Whether the situation we are facing is minor, or major such as losing a loved one, it is human nature to want to move away from pain and find comfort as soon as possible. However, we know deep down that we need to work through these experiences in a conscious fashion rather than bury our heads in the sand, because these are the times when we access important information about ourselves and life.

The learning process may not be easy, but it is full of lessons that bring us wisdom we cannot find any other way.

The desire to fast-forward can lead to escapism and denial, both of which only prolong our difficulties and in some cases make them worse. The more direct, clear, and courageous we are in the face of whatever we are dealing with, the more quickly we will move through the situation.

Understanding this, we may begin to realize that trying to find the fast-forward button is really more akin to pressing pause. When we truly grasp that the only way out of any situation in which we find ourselves is to go through it, we stop looking for ways to escape and we start paying close attention to what is happening.

We realize that we are exactly where we need to be. We remember that we are in this situation in order to learn something we need to know, and we can alleviate some of our pain with the awareness that there is a purpose to our suffering.

When we feel the urge to press the fast-forward button, we need to remember that we are not alone; we all instinctively avoid pain. But in doing so, we often prolong our pain and delay important learning and healing.

As we choose to move forward in real time and accept what life holds for us, we know that in the long run, this is the least painful way to go.

With love & light,

Rob